


Demolition Lovers

by MarinaScarlet



Series: Demolition Lovers [2]
Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Alcohol, Blood, Domination, F/M, Pre Emma Swan, Strong Language, Weapon use, Weapons
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-04-01
Updated: 2013-11-18
Packaged: 2017-12-07 03:49:57
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 10
Words: 22,199
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/743864
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MarinaScarlet/pseuds/MarinaScarlet
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Nobody knows what lies behind the shadow of Mr. Gold, Storybrooke’s most mysterious man, and neither why he has shown some interest in Lacey French, a 20-year old girl who works at day in Granny’s  and spends her nights in The Rabbit Hole playing pool and darts. Nobody knows why both of them have teamed; their intentions seem to be as dark as the night that covers them. But one thing is sure: their love-hate relationship won’t take them far.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Never

**Author's Note:**

> Of pool tables and lace (the prequel) inspired me enough to start this multichapter. This is the main fic, and the prequel is necessary to understand this. I’m going to try a new writing style on this fic, in present tense in third person; let’s see how this ends. And of course, enjoy!

Lacey walks towards the main door of her father’s house, where she lives, with angry steps, her coat on and her purse in her hand. Her father is shouting her; they are arguing.

“ _You can’t forbid me what can I do or what I can’t do. I’m a grown woman and I can do whatever I want!_ ”

“ _AS FAR AS YOU LIVE IN THIS HOUSE YOU’LL OBEY ME AND YOU’LL DO THINGS AS I COMMAND, LACEY FRENCH!_ ”

“ _THEN I’M GOING TO MOVE WITH RUBY. I CAN’T STAND YOU ANYMORE._ ” She opens the door fiercely, giving a last look to her father before disappearing into Storybrooke’s night.

She closes it hard and walks with her high black heels into the town’s streets. The night is cold, her cheeks get red almost instantly, and her hands grow cold with each step she takes. Fortunately, her way of escape and refuge is very close from her home and when she crosses the door, a wave of warmth, alcohol and smoke welcomes her; she is thankful for such welcome. For her, The Rabbit Hole is like her second home.

She enters to the place with decided steps, leaving her coat in the entrance and going to the bar.

“ _What is going to be tonight, Lacey?_ ” Jean, the bartender, asks her, as all nights.

“ _Tequila, please. Tonight is really cold and I need something to warm up myself. Maybe I’ll ask for something else later._ ”

“ _Pool_ _table too?_ ”

“ _You know which one._ ” She sits on the chair and waits until he brings her glass. She drinks it in one long swallow, closing her eyes, tasting each drop of the strong flavour of her drink and letting the liquid burn her throat, making her feel alive. “ _Serve me a whiskey, please._ ”

She moves to the pool tables, but first she puts some music on. She is in the mood tonight of some blues. When the music starts to play, she picks up her pool cue (Jean has one special for since she goes there each night) and she goes to her table, the one that is hidden in one of the corners of the bar.

Lacey has a ritual before playing each night, and everybody knows that she doesn’t want to be interrupted as she does it. She has to touch each ball, and she places them carefully and in numerical order, from the lowest to the higher. Then, she places the blue chalk in the tip of her cue, and places a soft kiss on the white ball carefully that she doesn’t leave any traces of her red velvet lipstick.

And then she can start playing.

Her first game is always alone; like a warm up lap. A bit before she finishes her game, at least a man is waiting to play with her. They always think that they can beat her, but they don’t know that she is a truly pool shark (or maybe they are too stupid so they can’t see it), and adding her charms, their chances are pretty small. They always bet they can win, and they always lose.

Lacey laughs each time a man loses some money playing with her. They protest, and even some one threatens her, but she reminds them that she has played fair, and therefore, they can’t say anything. Most of them go away with sad puppy faces; Jean comes over a man tries to hurt her.

She knows how to play pool because her father taught her when she was a child, when her mother was still alive, and when things were fine.

Now all of that is part of the past, and she prefers to forget it. It hurts, and she doesn’t want to end up crying because of it.

That night she plays five pool games, and earns around 100 dollars from the bets. She smiles as the last man hands her money and leaves her table.

“ _Next time I will win._ ”

“ _I wouldn’t be that sure…_ ” She smirks and finishes her third whiskey. “ _Jean, please, could you bring me now something softer? I don’t want to end drunk so soon._ ”

“ _Your gin-tonic will help it_?”

She nods, and leans against the table. The argument with her father has left her thinking about really moving with her friend. She hates arguing with her father, but questioning her night activities (“ _Come on dad… You really think I’m a whore?_ ”) was far beyond what she could tolerate. She has a job, she earns money, and obviously, she can do with her money as she pleases. She lives with her father because she doesn’t want him to be completely alone (she knows that if she moves she isn’t going to see her father so much) but considering that night’s argument, she really thinks into moving with her friend. At least, she would live with somebody who doesn’t care what she does each night and would have her by her side anytime she needs her.

She would tell her tomorrow at Granny’s.

The tapping sound of a cane starts to be heard in the place, and the voices start to low. Jean greets the figure with a soft “ _Hey_ ”, and Lacey raises her head as the sound gets closer to her.

“ _Goodnight, Goldie._ ”

“ _Goodnight, Lacey. May I invite you to something?_ ”

“ _Jean is about to bring me a gin-tonic, but I’d gladly accept your offer as soon as I finish this. Do you fancy some pool?_ ” She looks at him, with funny eyes, and lowers her voice; only Gold and she can hear what she’s going to say. “ _Maybe you want to do as yesterday…_ ”

“ _Maybe you want to taste the metal of my cane. Don’t play with me, Lacey._ ” She smiles and thinks that she wants to taste the metal of his cane, but not in the traditional way.

“ _It was only a suggestion… Don’t get so mad._ ” Her hand caresses his right cheek as she heads to the bar to pick up her drink, served in a long glass, as she likes. “ _Come on, a quick game!_ ”

“ _No, not today._ ”He tries to smile but he’s only able to draw a crooked semi-smile. “ _Tonight I’d like to talk to you about business, and make you an offer._ ”

“ _An offer? Talk about business with me?_ ” She laughs and almost spits her drink into the table. “ _Let me guess… You want me to be your pet?_ ”

“ _How funny._ ” He gets closer to her, and he doesn’t stop until he’s on her back, with his mouth leaning over her left ear. “ _If I wanted you to be my pet, you’d be now in my house, maybe with some kind of lace or rope around your neck so I can pull you as I want, and we would be fucking like animals, harder than yesterday._ ” She shivers when those words and his warm breath hit her.

“ _Then…”_ She remains silent for a while, trying to say that in the lowest voice she is able to put. _“Then I want to be your pet, Goldie._ ” Her voice almost sounds like begging.

He smiles and arches an eyebrow. “ _You really want it, right?_ ” For a moment, she thinks he’s going to accept. “ _But I’m afraid I’m not sure I want to be your owner._ ” He turns his head and leaves a shy and sassy laugh to get out of his mouth. He leaves her and goes for his drink, and starts to move towards a door lying in the darkest corner of the bar. “ _Follow me._ ”

She picks up her glass, and moves quickly where is he, closing the door behind her and walking the dark hall that is ahead. There are a few doors in both sides of the corridor: the storage room, Jean’s office and “ _the secret room of Gold_ ”, she thinks as they get to the end of the corridor.

He opens the door and invites her silently to enter. He closes and locks the door and moves towards his desk, placing his cane on the wall behind it and sits on his armchair. “ _Please, take seat._ ” She obeys, and leaves her glass on the dark wood of the desk. “ _Lacey… Don’t dare to say again in public what happened yesterday if you don’t want to ruin your reputation._ ”

“ _I think_ _I finished ruining it when I come with you here. Everybody is thinking now for sure we’re fucking on your desk._ ” She smiles ironically, and she wishes for that to happen. “ _I’ve got no reputation in this damned town. Nobody takes seriously a girl who spends her nights here, drinking and playing pool or darts, and earning money because of it. I know the rumours; I know everybody says that I’m the town whore; nothing far from reality._ ” She takes a long swallow from her glass. “ _Even my own father thinks it. But don’t worry, I’m fine. I think it’s my fault, in the end._ ”

He seems surprised by her speech, and she hurries to apologize for telling him what she just has told him. “ _Sorry, I didn’t want to tell you that._ ”

“ _It’s fine, doesn’t matter._ ” He looks at her seriously. “ _What I wanted to tell you is far more complex than being my pet._ ” He marked those words. “ _You’re the only person in this town who doesn’t seem to be afraid of me._ ”

“ _I’m definitely not afraid of you, Gold._ ”

“ _Because of that I want to make you a deal. Or an offer, as you see it._ ”

“ _What’s it?_ ”

“ _Cooperate with me into taking rid of this town’s bastards. Help me to remind them who rules this damned place._ ” He smirks. “ _I’ll pay you, of course, and I will provide you anything you need._ ”

“ _What I gain then?_ ”

“ _Money and maybe a more efficient way to pull out all that anger that is throbbing in your veins._ ” She looks surprised. “ _I know how to recognize a desperate soul when I see it._ ”

“ _I’m not a desperate soul. I just…_ ” She doubts just before she opens her mouth, thinking carefully what she’s going to say. “ _I just want to enjoy my nights. That’s all._ ”

“ _And that’s why you are nearly drunk tonight, right? Come on, Lacey. I can see the wrath in your eyes._ ” He is able to smell her breath; it’s full of alcohol.

She rolls her head and takes her eyes from him. “ _Maybe I just had a rough night, okay?_ ”

“ _I won’t tell anyone._ ”

“ _I’m not going to tell you what is running now in my head, Gold. Not now and maybe not ever._ ”

“ _As you wish, Lacey._ ” He loves to say her name.

 She stands up and picks her glass, almost empty, and starts to walk towards the door, but she wants to hear more about what he just had offered her. She stops, and looks at him again.

“ _But… I’m interested into collaborate with you. Tell me what I have to do._ ”

“ _Basically beat up people. I promise you won’t hurt any children (God forgive me if I ever hurt a child) and I tend to keep women away from this. You will go at night to your meetings, and you’ll give them an invoice. If they don’t give me what they debt to me, you’ll beat them. Your weapons? Your bare hands, your legs, your heels, a cane… **Whatever that pleases you**. I’ll provide you what you need._ ” He raises his right eyebrow, and places his crossed hands under his chin, waiting for an answer. “ _Do you accept this or you decline it?_ ”

She doesn’t doubt. “ _I accept. When do I start?_ ”

“ _Tomorrow I’ll give you details of your first visit._ ”

“ _Great._ ” She offers him a crooked smile and leaves the room, closing the door softly. Until the sound of her heels doesn’t disappear from the corridor, he isn’t able to calm himself.

The thought of her saying that if she wanted her to be his pet hardens him to unexpected levels, and makes his imagination go wild. 

He imagines her in his bed, on her fours, completely naked, with a sort of rope in around her neck, a bit tight, just enough to make her raise her head when he pulls. She would be begging him to fuck her, and he would spank her until he would be reaching his climax. He would get into her without mercy, making her cry of pleasure, and she would thank him, between really loud cries, for doing it. Her moans would drive him completely and utterly mad, making him to cup her breasts with his hands and pickling her nipples until they were so hard they could cut glass. He would come inside her with a long thrust, and she will come undone soon after, screaming his last name. - **_Gold, GOLD! PLEASE!_** \- He would massage her clit with his thumb until she cried and begged him to stop. – **_I… I can’t keep on going! Please, Gold!_** \- When she would have come the second time, screaming again his name, he would go out of her and would undo her hair bun, and would pet her hair whispering that if she wanted to make it next night. - **_Did you like it, pet? Did you like to be possessed like this?  Did you enjoy the wild ride? Do you want to repeat it tomorrow? Tell me, Lacey. I want to know._** _-_

And her answer would be yes.  - **_All nights ,owner._** -

He opens his eyes and he takes his right hand to his cock; he needs to free himself. After a few strokes, he comes in his hand. He takes a tissue of his desk and cleans his hand as he smiles; Lacey had accepted one of the dirtiest jobs in town and she had asked him to be his pet.

“ _I hope you won’t regret what you said, dear_.” He rises from his armchair and walks towards the door.

If Lacey was still there, it was time to close The Rabbit Hole.


	2. Cherry cola shots

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> New chapter, new hints for what's coming up and I suppose more action than in the first one. Feedback is always appreciated, so if you like, please, leave a comment! Thank you! I hope you enjoy the chapter.

Belle gets up at 6 am, really sleepy and tired (she stayed again with Mr. Gold in The Rabbit Hole, and they fucked again in the pub, this time on the bar), and she shivers when she remembers what she told him last night.

“ _I want to be your pet._ ”

She really wants it, but she doesn’t know why. The only thing she knows is that she needs it, like breathing. She loves how she dominates her, but also how she can turn tables and she ends dominating him. She liked that game.

She stands up from the bed, and heads to the bathroom in order to have a relaxing shower that hopefully will make go away the pain in her shoulders. When she undresses, she notices she’s got marks all over her body, mostly in her breasts, in the shoulders and in her hips. When her fingertips touch them, her mind gets filled with memories of the last two nights, and she has to sit because her legs have turned butter. She had laid with a few men in her short life, but no one had left such marks neither those memories.

She got wet only thinking about it.

Last night had been a bit rougher than the first one. He had spanked her until she had fallen to her knees (surprisingly her arse only hurt a bit) and he had taken her again by behind. She had cried out loud his name hundreds of times – **_G…_** **_Gold, GOLD! DON’T STOP, PLEASE. DON’T DARE TO STOP!_** -; indeed, her throat was a bit in pain.

When they finished, he had caressed her face, and whispered something inaudible. She believes he said “ _Well done, pet_ ”, but she isn’t sure. And she isn’t going to ask him.

She gets into the shower and turns the water to the hot spot, letting the fog take control of the bath. She lets the water run free through her brown and chestnut hair (which also has got maroon that reflects when the sun hits directly it). As the water runs into her body, she feels clean, relaxed; the memories of last night are retracing their steps back.

She steps out of the shower and wraps herself in an oversized towel that covers all her body. She dries her skin, and then she applies moisture all over her, with soft touches in the marked zones, that smells like roses. She entertains herself with a massage in her legs; they hurt of being in those heels all night long. She wraps again herself in the towel and heads to her bedroom; she locks the door so she assures that her father isn’t going to enter and look at her bruises.

She dresses up fast; she chooses for that day a pair of dark jeans, a white blouse, a grey sweater and her black Converse. She wraps around her neck a pale cream handkerchief; there are some marks in there that shouldn’t be shown.

Lacey hurries to the kitchen to have some coffee and rush to work; her father isn’t awake yet so she prepares it and leaves a note in the counter. She picks up her take away mug, her coat and heads to Granny’s to start a new day of work.

She goes by feet to Granny’s; it’s not so far from her home so she arrives in 10 minutes walking at the double. She finds Ruby placing the Granny’s signboard outside the restaurant; she greets her with a smile.

“ _Good morning, Belle. How was your night yesterday?_ ” The girl asks to her friend, as they walk together to the entrance.

“ _Fine, better than I expected. I might have found a new job._ ” She says carelessly, knowing that could give her problems with Ruby.

“ _That means you’re going to leave Granny’s?_ ”

“ _No, of course not! Your grandmother was very kind to me offering me this job and I’m not going to refuse it._ ” She makes a denial nod with her head. “ _It would be at late evenings/nights. Mr. Gold offered it to me._ ”

Ruby is horrified and her face shows a complete misunderstanding of the matter. “ _Are you going to be Gold’s whore?_ ”

“ _No, Ruby! For God’s sake, could you stop being such a pervert?!_ ” She hits her friend’s arm with a furious look. “ _No, it’s something different._ ”

“ _What’s it, then?_ ”

“ _I’m going to help him to… Collect the loans._ ”

“ _Really? Does he really trust you for such job? I suppose he doesn’t know that you’re the daughter of…_ ”

“ _He knows, Ruby._ ” Belle gives an upset look to her friend; sometimes Ruby seems to live in another world. “ _But he isn’t going to be that bad and he’s not going to send me to go to my own house to ask my father for the money. He’s bad, but not that kind of evil._ ”

Ruby sighs and looks at her friend with concern. “ _If by any chance he hurts you, tell me. Tell me and I will take care of you._ ”

“ _He’s not going to hurt me. I’m sure._ ” Belle grabs her friend‘s arm before she goes into the kitchen. “ _But if that happened, be sure you’d be the first into knowing it. I promise._ ”

Ruby tries to smile but she only manages to twist her lips softly, and she disappears into the kitchen. Belle thinks that maybe that hasn’t been a good idea but Ruby is the only person in the whole town that she utterly and complete trusts in.

Her day in Granny’s goes slowly, quiet and calm, as each day. Mary Margaret comes for her morning tea and has a small chat with her and Ruby, which is interrupted when Abigail asks for her latte and a cookie, as she does each Thursday, and Belle hurries to prepare it. She always places it in a small paper bag and gives it to her with her brightest smile, and Miss Nolan rewards her with a huge thank you and extra tip. Dove, Mr. Gold’s bodyguard, appears a few minutes Abigail leaves the establishment, asking for a black coffee and a red tea. No milk, no sugar. She hands the two paper vases to the huge man and he gives her the money. No tip, always the exact amount.

But that morning, something changes.

He slips a note in the bill he hands her. He doesn’t say anything as he leaves the counter, and Belle hides the note in the pocket of her trousers; she’ll read it in her pause.

Mayor Mills also breaks into the diner, orders her cappuccino with cinnamon and cocoa and a piece of apple pie, and sits in her spot in the counter. As always, Widow Lucas serves first the cake, and then the coffee. The mayor never leaves tips, and wants everything well prepared and served. If it isn’t in the way she likes, she doesn’t pay. That’s why Granny always serves her orders.

During her stay in Granny’s (she stays usually for 20 minutes), the voices are lowered and people talk less enthusiastically; if the mayor is bothered, her wrath is terrible. Everybody knows the golden rule: do not make angry Regina Mills, or you’ll suffer the consequences.

When Miss Mills leaves the money on the bar and exits the diner, everybody’s back to their normal voice tone and act as if nothing happened. And also this is the moment in which Belle has her pause, so she heads to the back of the restaurant, exits it by the service door and hides herself in the alley with her cup of red tea. She leans over the wall, takes a long swallow from her cup and opens the note. The calligraphy is very precise, as if it was written by a quill. She knows that is the handwriting of Mr. Gold; Dove couldn’t write in this way.

_Tonight, at half past ten at the entrance of my house. I’ll give you details of my first request. Come with informal clothes, not in dress, not in heels and no makeup. As you go to work each day. Don’t be late. And above of all, come alone._

Belle looks a bit surprised by the tone of the note, but she dismisses those thoughts quickly. “It’s Mr. Gold, did you ever expected he was going to be nice with you?” She drinks the rest of her tea quickly and heads to the restaurant again.

The rest of the day passes smoothly, and Belle’s turn ends at 8.30 pm, as each day, leaving her enough time to go home and get ready for her meeting. She realizes that she hasn’t spoke today with Ruby about moving with her; she will tell her tomorrow.

She arrives home, and her father hasn’t arrived yet, so she decides to put some music on, as all evenings, as she peels off her clothes in her room and heads to the bathroom completely naked, to have another hot shower. After thirteen minutes under the hot stream, she wraps herself in a tower and heads back to her bedroom; she feels relaxed and more confident to face the meeting of tonight. She is still a bit scared, but she knows that she can do it. She has faced Gold twice in the last days and she has ended winning (and with reward).

She dresses as he has asked her in the note, and waits until it is 22 pm; at that hour, as she leaves her house, she has an argument with her father. He demands to know where is she going, and she tells she’s going to go with Ruby.

“ _I forbid going with her! Couldn’t you stay at home for just one night?_ ”

“ _No, I can’t!_ _You can’t forbid me what can I do or what I can’t do. I’m a grown woman and I can do whatever I want!_ ”

“ _AS FAR AS YOU LIVE IN THIS HOUSE YOU’LL OBEY ME AND YOU’LL DO THINGS AS I COMMAND, LACEY FRENCH!_ ”

“ _THEN I’M GOING TO MOVE WITH RUBY. I CAN’T STAND YOU ANYMORE._ ” She opens the door fiercely, as she does each night, giving a last look to her father before disappearing into Storybrooke’s night.

She walks quickly into the streets, trying not to get too tired as she reaches Gold’s house. It is placed in the most exclusive neighbourhood of Storybrooke; his house has two floors and it’s painted in a soft pink. Belle asks herself how a man could paint his house in such insipid colour as she rings the bell of the main door. After a few moments, the door opens and she is invited to come in.

“ _Goodnight, Lacey._ ”

“ _Goodnight, Gold._ ”

“ _Please, follow me to my study._ ”

She walks behind him, with short steps, without making any noise; her breath is a bit accelerated, he notices that but he doesn’t care. They get to his study and with a gesture of his hand, without saying anything, he invites her to take seat.

“ _I’m glad you come._ ” He smirks as he takes seat, right in front of her; only their desk separates them. “ _Let’s talk about your first job._ ”

She raises an eyebrow in signal of understanding and he continues talking. She will have to go to John Greenfield’s shop tomorrow in the evening to give him an invoice for the rent of the shop. Dove will go with her. If the rent isn’t in Gold’s hands by Monday, he will make sure that he will get a punishment.

If by Monday he hasn’t paid, Lacey will go to beat him.

She looks at him with suspicious eyes. “ _What_ _I get when the work is done?_ ”

“ _A substantial amount of money._ ”

She wants the money, she **_needs_** it; it will be a way to go out from her father’s house. She accepts the work. It will be easy.

They shake hands and Gold smirks again. “ _I’m_ _glad you accepted it._ ”

She smiles, shakes hands with him and leaves his house. She walks to The Rabbit Hole; she needs some alcohol and some darts, despite night has gone good.

She arrives to her place, and Jean asks her what she will have.

“ _Tonight it will be the vodka and cherry cola shots._ ”


	3. A sweet taste of blood

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the delay but I've been quite busy and with an alarming lack of inspiration lately. This chapter is shorter than the others but I think you'll like it. I must advise you that this chapter contains also really violent parts, so if you can't stand it pretty well, I suggest to skip it. Enjoy! :D

She has in her hands a baseball bat and a hood and bandana cover her face, leaving only her bright blue eyes uncovered. She is wearing sport gloves, and her trainers make her go faster. She is walking with Dove towards the warehouse of her first victim.

\------------

_“Weekend’s over and Greenfield hasn’t paid me yet, so you know what you’re going to do. Dove will help you.”_

\------------

She swallows hard as Dove kicks the door of the storehouse down. He gives her a look and both enter to the building; John is there, paralyzed, asking for mercy. But Dove definitely has no mercy, and he kicks him first.

\-----------

_“This is your first work, isn’t it? Don’t worry. You’ll get used to, and I will show you. I’ll be a sort of teacher.”_

\----------

She throws the bat to the floor, leaving it by her side.

She kicks the man who is lying on the floor. First, not so hard, but the next kicks are harder, passionate, ever angry. Her breath is accelerated, and she has closed her eyes as she beats the man.

She hits him with her fists, with her feet, and in the end, she picks up again the bat and makes it move down to the bleeding man on the floor.

She hits him once. The man screams.

She hits him twice. He starts to cry again and asks for mercy.

She hits him a third time. The man lowers his voice and mumbles something incomprehensible.

She lowers the bat a fourth time, but Dove stops her.

_“Enough.”_

She refuses to walk away; she wants to keep beating him. But he knows what to do. He picks up the bat from her hands, he breaks it with his knee and then he grabs her.

_“I said enough.”_

Any resistance against Dove is useless, and with a grunt, she walks with him outside the building, far from him, far from anybody who can hear them.

 _“You know what Gold said: beat him, but not killing him. And you were about to do it. What were you thinking about?”_ He is angry, really angry.

 _“I don’t know, okay? I just…”_ She bits her lower lip and lowers her head, shaking it a little to make go away what she has been thinking during the beating. _“Forget it. I got very passionate.”_

 _“Don’t let passion make you lose your head.”_ He starts to move towards the car. _“If you let the passion or the excitement control you as you’re doing this, you’re lost.”_

She follows him and sits in the co-driver seat. They remain quiet and silent until they reach Gold’s house. She opens the door and stumbles outside the car, and waves her hand in a goodbye sign for Dove. He nods his head and starts the car again, disappearing into the silence of Gold’s neighbourhood.

She puts her hood away, and lowers the bandana that was hiding her face. There is blood in her gloves and in her shoes. She is shaking, and she needs to sit in the ground until she can walk into Gold’s house and tell him about her first beating.

She closes her eyes, and all sort of memories of the last hour come to her head. She has beaten a man who has a family and who has to pay to Mr. Gold in order to keep his shop opened. That man is going to go to the hospital later, and her wife is going to go there to check how is he, and she will have to lie to her kids about her dad. She has beaten a man that could have been her father.

But no.

Her father is different. Her father is lazy, her father doesn’t allow her to do what she wants, and despite she works hard to earn money. Her father is absentminded, and he has troubles with Gold and the payments that make her go crazy and fight with him. He doesn’t pay attention to things that could give him a lot of trouble. He doesn’t care.

She had imagined her father there, lying on the floor, asking for mercy, asking her to stop. She had imagined him asking her to go home, to leave her deal with Gold, to live as a family.

But no.

There was no family to get back anymore. Not since her mother passed away. Not since her father started to make things wrong to keep them together. Not since he decided to sell their business and start another one, much more difficult, much harder, and with fewer customers.

There was no way back to such days. There was no turning back to the life they could had if her father hadn’t done such stupid decisions.

Her frustration, her anger, her fears had slipped away with each hit, with each kick. She isn’t angry now, she is tired, but relaxed. Her mind is clear. She is far more better than other days. She is a new person.

She smiles and stands up from the ground. Her smile is crooked, sadistic. Evil. She likes this. She likes beating people. She likes what Gold has offered her. She likes this job.

She rings the bell of the house and waits patiently until it opens.

_“Lacey.”_

_“Good evening, Gold.”_ She enters the house and steps in front of him closing the door.

_“How was your job?”_

_“Delightful. Incredible.”_ She puts off her gloves and gets closer to Gold, putting her mouth near to his ear, lowering her voice until it’s only a whisper. _“ **Evil. Wonderfully evil.** I felt powerful. I felt as if I had the whole world down on my feet, kissing it, bowing before me.”_

 _“Did you like it?”_ His hands are running now down her spine, making her shiver, playing with her curls, twisting them between his fingers.

She remains silent for a little while before speaking again. _“I loved it.”_

 _“I’m glad to hear that.”_ He smirks and lowers his voice until only Lacey could hear it. _“What do you want to do now?”_

 _“I want my part of the deal.”_ She hisses, and cups his arse with her hands. _“And I want it now.”_

 _“I like to hear that, my **evil** girl.”_ He laughs in her ear, making her close her eyes and pressing her body against his. _“I love it.”_


	4. Three cheers

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is what I call a quick update... I wasn't expecting to upload so fast but Lacey and Gold wanted me to write them so here you are. New chapter, new points and a bit of cliffhanger. Comments and thoughts are always appreciated and encourage me to keep on writing!

Lacey wakes up completely naked in a bed that isn’t hers, and soon she recognizes a familiar shape, lying by her side. She is with Gold, she spent the night with him. She can’t remember too much, but she recalls that they drank (her mouth tastes of expensive whiskey) and they fucked (she remembers her screams). There are a few marks on her body (fingers, hands and bites), and she knows that night both had a good time. He is still asleep, also completely naked, and she is tempted to wake him in a special way, but she looks at the clock and she realizes she doesn’t have enough time for that. She rises from the bed softly, trying not to wake up him, and hurries to the bathroom, to wash her face and her trainers; the blood is still there.

As she cleans her shoes, she thinks in the man she beat yesterday, and a shiver runs all over her spine. She tries to think why she enjoyed so much hitting a human being, why she had hidden inside herself such a violent part. She knows that she doesn’t care about violence; in fact she can tolerate it, but enjoying it was far from she ever thought? Was she looking for adrenaline, danger? What she was searching with that?

A sound in the door awakes her from her thoughts, and she recognizes a familiar shape in the door.

“ _Good morning, Gold._ ”

“ _Cleaning your working outfit?_ ”

“ _More or less._ ” She lowers her head and continues scrubbing the blood of her trainers.

“ _What have you going to do today?_ ” He enters into the room and walks towards her.

“ _Going to work and tell my father I’m fine… He might be worried because I haven’t slept at home._ ” She avoids his gaze, despite he’s closer than she ever wanted. “ _But he might think I spent the night with Ruby, so I don’t care much about that._ ”

“ _Perfect. Call Granny’s, you’re not going to work today._ ”

“ _What?_ ” She looks at him confused.

“ _You heard me. You’re not going to go to work today. You’re going to stay with me._ ” He clears his throat. “ _I’m your boss too, and I need to evaluate you after the work of yesterday._ ”

“ _Are you going to do this each time I have to beat somebody?_ ”

“ _Depending on how it has gone._ ” He turns and starts to walk towards the door. “ _Come on, call your friend, come up with a lie. Anything. But fast. We don’t have all day._ ” He seems upset, a bit angry, but maybe it’s because it’s really early.

“ _Okay…_ ” She also exits the room and walks to the lower floor only dressed with her underwear.

Gold watches the girl walking into his house and remembers things of what he did last night. He wants to check if the marks he left are serious, if she remembers what they did. And also, to check how her mind is after what she did the last evening.

His head hurts, and he tries to remember more of what happened when she decided to enter his house and tell him how much she enjoyed her new work, and he only recalls in an empty bottle of Scottish whiskey, her clothes flying across the living room and sex. Furious, passionate and delicious sex. He loved her screams, how she begged for more, how she asked him to have mercy when she was so exhausted she couldn’t come another time.

He enjoyed fucking Lacey more than anything in this world.

He hears Lacey finishing her call, and he goes downstairs.

“ _And well?_ ”

“ _I said her I had a pretty serious hangover, and fortunately, she believed it._ ”

“ _Perfect. Come with me._ ” He goes to the kitchen to prepare some coffee. “ _I’d like to check if you’re fine, both physical and mentally. What you did yesterday can be traumatic and can give you serious issues. I’ll ask you a few questions and I want your answers to be complete sincere._ ”

“ _Okay…_ ” She rises an eyebrow and she looks at him. “ _Fire away._ ”

“ _Was it your first time making an act of such violence?_ ”

“ _Define ‘such violence’, please._ ”

“ _Beating a person not only with hands and feet, also with weapons._ ” He sighs. “ _Was it or not?_ ”

“ _Yes._ ”

“ _Was_ _it the first time you saw an act of such violence?_ ”

“ _No._ ”

“ _Have_ _you ever suffered an act of such violence?_ ”

She stops and thinks. Her father hit her a few times when she was a child, and in school and high school the fights were constant, and she always ended bruised, but not as she did yesterday.

“ _No. But I’ve been hit a few times during my 20 years of existence._ ”

“ _By your family? By your friends?_ ”

“ _Both of them._ ”

“ _Has left it any sequels?_ ”

“ _How long will last these stupid questions?_ ” She looks pissed and angry, and starts to walk towards the bedroom again. “ _If you are so anxious to know who has hit me during my life, you could get my medical record from the hospital. Aren’t you the most powerful man in town? Then look for them._ ”

“ _Lacey, this is for you, for your mental health._ ”

“ _Oh, are you caring about me now? What a detail coming from you, Gold._ ” She starts to climb the stairs. “ _I only want the job, not a deep analysis of my mind each time I beat somebody._ ” She stops and goes down again, to face him. She isn’t afraid of him. She has never been afraid of him. “ _I saw things when I was a child that made me who I am today, and guess what? I’m fine. I’m not **china** , Gold. I am strong as **titanium**. Nothing can break me._ ”

An uncomfortable silence takes control of the house during a few minutes; both are looking at each other, trying to guess which was going to be their next movement.

“ _I know your weakness._ ”

She gets closer, challenging him.

“ _Name it._ ”

He approaches her slowly, making the tapping sound of his cane resound in the whole house. Her heartbeat is accelerated, as much as his. His mouth lands near her ear, and he speaks.

“ _Grace Evans._ ”

“ _Shut up._ ”

“ _Missing since 19 th March 1983… Or better said…_” He grins, and arches and eyebrow. _“… Abducted, tortured and killed during 1983._ ”

“ _Shut the hell up._ ”

“ _Her body was never found._ ”

“ _She is still missing._ ”

“ _I don’t think so._ ”

“ _You don’t know anything, Gold! ANYTHING! AND IF YOU DON’T SHUT YOUR FUCKING MOUTH OUT I SWEAR I’LL FUCKING BEAT YOU WITH YOUR GODDAMN CANE UNTIL YOUR DAMN BRAIN IS SPILLED IN THE FLOOR!_ ” The anger is throbbing in her veins; her eyes are going red, and her breathing is accelerated, chaotic. He wants to kill him.

He laughs, turns his back and walks to the kitchen again. “ _I know your weak point, Lacey. I am the most powerful man in town, as you said._ ” He takes a cup and pours some black coffee in it. “ _I just have shown you one of your weak points. Do you want me to continue?_ ”

She moves to the kitchen counter and leans over it, pushing her breasts and making him look at her neckline. “ _It’s enough. But I don’t want to answer any more of your questions. Don’t psychoanalyze me; don’t make me questions to try to break my sanity. In exchange, I won’t try to make you angry by pushing you to your limits._ ” She looks at him angrily. “ _Do we have a deal?_ ”

“ _I thought I was the one who made the deals here, dearie._ ”

“ _Do we have it or not?_ ”

He laughs again, and with a nod of his head, approves what she had proposed.

“ _At least I hope this brings up some peace to us._ ” She mutters as she leaves him in the kitchen in the search of her clothes to dress up and leave the house. Bringing up the topic of Grace hadn’t been the best option if he wanted to see her limits.

“ _Where are you going?_ ” He says as she walks down the stairs, completely dressed.

“ _Outside, for a walk._ ” She lies; she wants to be far from him, but his attraction is powerful.

“ _Aren’t you going to stay?_ ”

“ _Have I any reason to stay?_ ”

“ _We_ _both got the day free. We can do many things._ ”

She arches an eyebrow, walks down the three last steps of the stairs and gets close to him. “ _What do you suggest?_ ”

He laughs. “ _You’ll see now._ ”

\--------------------------

Night has fallen over Storybrooke, and Lacey is walking from Gold’s house to The Rabbit Hole. She is a bit drunk, but she can speak and walk perfectly. What she and he did in his house isn’t a secret: sex and alcohol.

No more uncomfortable questions.

No more names.

Only whiskey, spanking, vodka and dirty talk.

She enters the place, dressed with the clothes she was wearing yesterday, and she goes to the bar, greeting Jean with her hand.

“ _What happened you last night?_ ”

“ _I_ _didn’t feel… Very well and somebody spent the whole night and day taking care of me._ ”

“ _It’s good to hear that, and I hope you feel better. What will be this night?_ ”

“ _Three shots of tequila to begin, please._ ”

He nods and brings the bottle, the lemon, the salt and the shot glasses. He pours the golden liquid in each one of them and leaves Lacey alone.

She takes the first glass and closes her eyes, whispering “ _this is for me_ ”, and swallows it.

She takes the second glass and murmurs “ _this is for this nightmare to end_ ”, and drinks it.

She takes the last glass, lets a tear fall and thinks for herself “ _this is for you, Grace_ ”, and swallows heavily, letting the glass fall over the wooden surface of the bar, as well as her tears.


	5. Midnight Rush

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the delay updating but I've been quite busy. This chapter has been betated by siriogold so thank you so much! <3 Hope you like it.

Ruby walks down the street from her apartment to the Rabbit Hole, looking forLacey. She called her in the morning telling something about being sick but she knew Laceywas lying; she was with Gold, and now she wants to check if her friend is okay.

When she enters the local, she searches for her: tight dress, high heels, hair bun, makeup, sarcastic laughter and a crooked smile, but she can’t find her. She asks the bartender, he knows for sure where Lacey is.

“ _Jean, have you seen Lacey?_ ”

“ _Over there._ ” He spots a small figure wrapped in black clothes, with the hair loosened, in trainers and crying. “ _I think she isn’t fine._ ”

“ _Why didn’t you call me?_ ”

“ _She’s only crying._ ”

“ _Lacey_ _never cries. She only does that when she is really hurt and damaged._ ” She begins to move toward her friend. “ _Next time call me!_ ”

“ _Why did you come?_ ” Lacey greets her.

“ _I was worried._ ”

“ _Was it because this morning’s call?_ ”

“ _You were with Gold._ ”

Lacey arches an eyebrow and tries to smile, laughing softly. “ _You catch me._ ”

“ _Why did you lie to me?_ ”

She just orders another drink and looks at her, with red eyes, shiners and a really tired. “ _He asked me to stay._ ”

“ _Are you two dating?_ ” Ruby laughs as she sits on a chair next to her friend.

“ _What’s wrong with you, Lucas?_ ” She is visibly angry, and wants to slap Ruby for saying so, although she isn’t very wrong. Surelythey have a relationship far different than a common boss – employee. And technically, Lacey isn’t Gold’s employee. She’s just a girl who occasionally does the dirty job and when it’s done, she gets money and sex. Nothing else. There was no written contract, just spoken words. That wasn’t a deal either; her father was the only onewho had an agreement with him, and unfortunately he didn’t takeit very seriously. And she hoped that someday, his father would have what he deserved.

 _“Hey, it was only a question… But seriously, had he hurt you? Forced you to do something you didn’t want to?_ ” She lowers her voice until it’s a whisper. “ _Hadhe… Raped you_?”

“ _No. Noneof all thesethings. He’s not a monster, dammit!_ ” Lacey replies almost shouting. “ _Why does everybody keep on saying awful things about him?_ ”

“ _Oh, come on, Lacey! It looks like he had blurred your vision! Look what he does to the people who break deals with him or doesn’t pay him on time._ ”

“ _He only commands; the executor is another person._ ”

“ _He’s a monster! Look, yesterday John Greenfield arrived to the hospital beaten up. Doctors said that they hit him even with a bat, and his state is pretty delicate. You still think he’s a good person?_ ”

She almost spits her drink on the wooden bar. She and Dove. What happened in Greenfield’s warehouse.

The bat hitting him three times.

The blood she cleaned this morning from her shoes.

How she had liked that.

How she had enjoyed imagining that her father was the one lying on the floor.

All those memories were coming to her mind and she couldn’t do anything but keep her poker face, swallow the scotch and keep on saying that Gold wasn’t a monster.

The monster was her.

“ _I’m going to repeat thisto you one more time, Ruby. He is not a monster. The people who work for him are._ ”

“ _You’re working for him._ ” She movesher head and pays close attention to Lacey’s expression. “ _Are you saying that you’re a monster too?_ ”

“ _I didn’t say that. As far as I know, I only do small jobs for him._ ”

“ _Blowjobs, fucking him? Is that what you do to him?_ ”

“ _Are you calling me Gold’s whore?_ ”

“ _Maybe._ ”

“ _I’m not._ ”

“ _Then tell me what do you do for him._ ”

“ _That doesn’t concern you. And now, if you excuse me, I’d like to go home because I’m feeling tired, drunk and sticky._ ”

“ _We haven’t finished, Lacey._ ”

“ _Oh, believe me we’ve finished._ ” She stands up and walks toward the entry of the bar. “ _Don’t bother withfollowing me, Ruby. Don’t do it. I’m not going to tell you anything. Whatever happens between Gold and I is only our concern._ ”

“ _Then I might have to investigate._ ”

She turns her head and looks at her with defiant eyes. “ _I suggest you don’t do it. You might end hurt._ ”

And she walks outside, leaving her friend standing at the bar,with a poker face andwithout knowing what to do. Lacey hurries to get home, and when she arrives, her father is already asleep. She goes to his room and says that she’s already home. He answers with a grunt that she decodes as a “thank you for telling me.”

She goes to her room, locks the door and throws herself ontothe bed. Tears fall down her cheeks and she puts a cushion onher face to muffle the cries. She knows she has been a bitch to Ruby, but her implication with Gold and his little business of beating people must remain a secret for everybody.

And she keeps on thinking about Grace, and about what Goldhad said that morning. She knows she’s dead, everybody knows that she’s dead. Why Gold would trick her in such an evil way? Why he’d wanted to make her suffer? To push her beyond her limits? What was that for?

She falls asleep crying, still dressed, and with an idea on mind.

She might go to Dr. Hopper about the Grace issue. She needs somebody to talk to about it and he’s the most suitable person in the whole town.

That night, she dreams of a new life in which she doesn’t have things to worry about, a new life wherein her mother was still alive.


	6. Betrayed trust

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the slow uploads but I'm on hiatus currently but yeah... Enjoy! :D

Three months have passed since Lacey started to work for Gold.

Three months bathed in blood, whiskey, nights of rough sex over a table.

Three months of building trust that even formed some kind ofrelationship between the china doll and the hammer.

Three months of peace which are abruptly interrupted by an event that makes the china break, and the hammer destroy.

 

There is no softness in his touches, neither in hers. There isn’t love, there is only desire, lust, the wanting of consume each other body until there is nothing more than ashes. Lacey likes everything hard, complicated, difficult, even dangerous, and the only person in town who can give what she wants is Gold. He is built over sadness for a loss he can’t remember, revenge for something he did a long time ago, toughness, pain and desire to inflict pain and hurt. Both are complicated people; both have darkness inside them.

Both have greeted the evil with their arms wide open.

That night, Lacey just wants Gold over her, or she over him. She only wants to fuck him until her last breath, and he gives hereverything, everything she wants and desires, despite he’s an old man in his fifties and she’s like a twenty-two year old evil nymph who always gets what she wants, no matter what it is.

Gold treats Lacey as everything he has, he wished to have and as if she’s everything he hasdesired in his all life. She was more than a filthy girl, or even a whore; she was his pet.

 

His mouth kisses and bites her neck without compassion, and he can hear how her moans rise from the depths of her throat. Her eyes are closed; she enjoys being bitten and kissed and licked, and to have marks all over her body; Gold is quite an expert in such things. Her skin is like cream, so pale, so soft, so kissable, he only wants to lose himself over her body and forget the rest of the world.

“Just… Don’t stop, please.”

“Shh, Lacey… Don’t break the moment. Let me keep on enjoying this body of yours…” His mouth is now over her collarbone, breathing on it, allowing her scent and taste to embrace him.

A low moan and a soft hair **-** pull of her hand incites Gold to tease her folds with his fingertips, to check how wet ~~is~~ she is, and to taste her. She is delicious in all possible ways, and despite she likes to be fucked fast and hard, Gold always reserves some nights to cherish and please her as she deserves.

  


Somewhere, in the depths of his memory, far beyond of what he remembers, there lies a memory of a girl which is somehow similar to Lacey. Same hair, same eyes, same voice and accent, and even same body. But the girl who lies in his memory doesn’t dress as provocatively as Lacey does, and despite she seems to be brave, she is much more naïve and innocent that the woman whois lying in bed with him in that moment.

  


“Why are you waiting so much?”

“Oh, dearie… You deserve to be pleased slowly, and I want to taste each inch of your skin tonight.” He smirks before putting his mouth on her sex to lick and bit it, until she begged him to stop.

“Dear Lord…” She moans, and abandons herself to pleasure and lust, moving one of her hands to his head to push him further into her pussy. “Don’t dare to stop now.”

“I’ll do as I please. And if you don’t stop moving, I will have to tie your arms to the headboard.”

“I won’t stop, and you know it.”

“Then I’ll do it. And I will do what I want with your body.” He takes his tie from the floor and takes her arms, tying them to the wooden surface, and knots the tie hard; her hands can’t move, and she bits her lips when he looks at her with fire in his eyes. They are burning for each other, their own flames making a much bigger fire.

A fire from which they will burn.

 

“There… Oh, please…”

His hands cup her arse, pressing his fingers against her skin, and his tongue moves deeply, biting each inch of her sex, and licking every single inch of flesh he finds, making her moan and scream and twist in bed, trying to untie her restraints. But Gold is certainly a good knot maker, and Lacey gives up after a few tries.

“Are you uncomfortable?”

“Not at all.”

“They why don’t you just relax and let lust invade you?”

“You should know that I’m lust itself.” Lacey smirks and lets go a deep groan when Gold fingersher again. He crawls over her body until his face is over hers.

“Tell me. Why would lust get together with greed?”

“Are you really greed?” Lacey laughs and arches an eyebrow.

“What makes you think the opposite?” He thrusts with his fingers even harder.

Lacey whimpers before she can speak. “You don’t look like greed… You look like more like gluttony.” She lowers her voice, making him lower his head. “You always want everything for you, and you can’t get enough of anything.”

“Oh, dearie… Believe me that I am more ~~than~~ greed than gluttony, but I must admit that you’re partially right.” His mouth is now on her ear, so, so close his breathing makes her moan. “I can’t get enough of fucking you.”

 

Lacey tastes like cinnamon and chocolate, with touches of vanilla in her neck, shoulders and belly. Her hands always smell of coffee, thank to her work on Granny‘s. Her hair and body always smell of roses: sweet, delicious, fresh, but also dangerous. Lacey is a wild rose, with big thorns, and if you don‘t treat her correctly, as she expects people to treat her, or if you get too close without her permission, she can hurt you. Lacey is like an aphrodisiac with long legs, sculpted in marble, impossible heels (as much as her hair), penetrating blue eyes, which shine like sapphires, and a scandalous body that can drive you crazy. Lacey isn‘t the kind of girl who anyone would want as a girlfriend, not even a wife, but she is the perfect lover: spicy, tasty, fresh, surprising and tempting, really tempting.

Lacey is, in fact, a sin whom many men would die for _._

A living sin.

 

“Tell me, what do you enjoy more of me?”

“Is that an invitation for dirty talk?” Gold laughs, and puts his fingers out of Lacey, and makes her lick them. “Good girl, keep on licking and sucking.”

“Does my tongue make you hard? You’re such a pervert, Gold.” She says softly, mocking him a bit.

“Not only your tongue, dearie…” He finally unties her hands from the headboard and makes her stand up. “Your whole body makes me hard. I’d love to rip all your transparent shirts to admire how you look only with your lace bras and those miniskirts. You look like a fucking whore, Lacey. And that makes me so, so hard.”

“C-continue, please…”

“Are you getting aroused only with my voice? Oh… Do you think you could come only by hearing me talking?”

“I… Don’t know.”

“I think you could ~~only~~ come just by seeing me naked, jerking my cock up and down.”

“Gold, please…”

“What do you want?”

“Fuck me.”

“Oh, not yet. It is too soon for that.” He moves around her until he’s behind her, and he presses his erection against her arse, his hands cupping her breasts, his ear biting her right earlobe. “I am going to keep this… Talk for a little while. Both are enjoying it, right?”

“You’re an asshole.”

“Oh!” He laughs low in her ear, and she can’t restraint a moan. “So one minute I am your fucker and in the next I am an asshole… Interesting opinion, dearie.” Her hands move to her pussy, trying to get some release, but Gold stops them. “No, Lacey. Your hands on your back. NOW. Don’t make me say it twice.”

“Are you going to tie me up again?”

“You can’t be still even when the greatest of the pleasureis being granted to you, so I have to take extreme measures… Although this isn’t quite extreme for you, isn’t it?”

“I’d say it is…” She moans when Gold makes a strong knot in her hands with his tie. She can barely move, and tying her hands is the last wall Gold puts to make her be still; her whole body is trying to get focused on being pleased than to keep her sanity. “Normal.”

“I don’t think so.” His fingers trap her nipples and pinch them, making them get harder, and Lacey whimpers. “Where was I? Oh, yes. I think you can come simply by seeing how this old man jerks his cock up and down, with his suit on. That turns you on, right? But I think you would be turned even more if you were seeing me and you were completely tied to a bed and you can’t even touch yourself.” He groans and she knows she can’t keep going onanymore. His voice is low and deep, penetrating. “You like to be fucked by men much older than you, dressed in expensive suits, walking with canes. You’re a fucking pervert. Look at yourself, you love to be fucked by an old man. Hard, so hard you can’t move next day.”

“You know I love old things.”

“Old things? Then you might like to be fucked by my cane. In the back shop, with your legs spread on the table and the metal handle playing with your clit… I just can imagine your moans and screams, telling me to fuck you until you can’t talk.” He stops for a little while before finishing the sentence. “We have to try it one day.”

“OH FUCK, GOLD! FUCK ME NOW!”

“Thanks for the screams, dearie.”

He gets into her hard and deep and fast, and his thrusts make her come within two minutes, letting out a long orgasm. He smirks when she screams, and soon ~~after~~ he comes after her, with a groan in her ear.

“That was… Glorious.” Gold unties her hands and she throws herself to the bed, wrapping part of her body in the sheets and looking at him.

“Why do you say that?” He lies on the headboard, hiding his body with the sheets.

“I think you’re the only man in the world that can make me beg while dirty talk is going on.”

“That means I’m an expert on that or either that my accent drives you so fucking crazy you lose your mind.”

Her skin shivers. It isn’t only the accent, but the way in which he talks, so dominant, so deep, feeling each word he says.

“Both. The way you speak is… Unique. I’ve never seen another person who talks like you in Storybrooke.”

“That’s because no one else here has got Scottish roots, **_Lacey_**.” He remarks the last word, making her bit her lower lip and get close to him, with the sheets slipping from her body and leaving her naked again.

“You got some kind of dark charm that makes me…” She stops, unsure of what she is going to say. “Nothing.”

“That was quite an unexpected ending. What you wanted to say?”

“It was something stupid.”

“Whatever.” He stands up and goes to find his clothes, which are spread around the room, leaving Lacey lying in bed, looking at him.

The silence enters into Gold’s room, and it gets cold, quite cold. Passion has just escaped the room, letting the doubt fill it with its winter cloak.

 

There are truths that shouldn’t be discovered, and lies that should be kept as half-truths.

There are mistakes that should be forgiven and good actions that should be condemned.

And there are questions that never should be asked.

There are some things that never should be spoken of.

 

“What do you know about Grace?” Lacey asks suddenly, knowing that she might have opened Pandora’s box.

“Pardon me?”

“Grace. Grace Evans.”

“I know who she is, dammit! Why are you asking it?”

“I want to know the truth, and you know it.” She rises from the bed, not even bothering into cover her naked body with the bed sheets. “I want to know what happened to her.”

“I’ll tell you something, Lacey. And I want you to listen to it clear, you get it?” She nods with an angry gesture; this is upsetting her so much. “Don’t dare to ask about her again. Never.”

“Why?”

“There are things that shouldn’t be shown or even spoken.”

“I can keep the secret.”

“This isn’t about keeping secrets, little girl. This is about things that should remain as half-truths, or forgotten, lying two feet under.”

“Tell me.”

“Shut up.”

“Tell me what you know about her! I NEED IT!”

“SHUT UP, STUPID SLUT!”

 

The hammer hits the china.

The hammer collapses.

The china becomes pieces.

And the trust built during those three months suddenly disappears.


	7. Heroes

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the so late update! I think by the middle of November everything will be conveniently posted and finished, and I will start with the next part. Meanwhile, enjoy the chapters left!!

_I am the hero of the story; I don’t need to be saved._

**_Regina Spektor, Hero_ **

\----------

_“Remember this, my girl. You have inside you greatness, despite you don’t see it. You’re the bravest person on Earth, and despite you will get hurt, you will also do great things with that knight spirit you got.”_

_“Why do you tell this to me, Grace?”_

_“I have to do things outside of town. I don’t know how much time I will be outside but I promise I will come back home.”_

_Lacey is paralyzed. She can’t simply move out of town. She desperately needs her at home. Things are awful right now. She needs her to stay._

_Grace has to stay with her._

_“Don’t leave me alone with dad! I want you to stay… I need you so much now.”_

_“Dad won’t hurt you, my little fool.” Grace smiles, and looks at Lacey one more time before she gets out of the house in which she’s been living her whole life. “He’s just a bit absent minded, but I am sure you will manage to show him the way. And I’m sure you will be fine. You are a grown –up lady, Lacey. Look at you!” She keeps on smiling, even when she knows she won’t see her for a long time. “You’ve come a long way. You can handle this.”_

_“Grace…” Lacey is about to cry; she’s desperate, she wants her to stay. She wants her to spend more time in that house, bringing peace, bringing balance. Even bringing happiness._

_“Shh, little bird.” She places a short kiss on Lacey’s front and opens the door, carrying only a small suitcase, her bag and a smile. “I will see you again. So soon you won’t notice I’ve been away.”_

_That’s the last time Lacey sees Grace, and her smile, and her happiness, and her optimism._

_That’s the last time Lacey sees the hero of her story._

\----------

No one in Storybrooke knows where Lacey is.

Gold was the last person who saw her, three days ago.

She’s been missing since then.

No one knows if she is alive, of if she is dead.

No one knows anything about what could have happened to her.

And no one seems to care about her.

In the end, she’s just a poor but pretty girl, a doomed beautiful face which drinks too much and hangs with the wrong crowd. She is a desperate and destroyed soul. Her father has given up on her, and her best friend is leaving her aside.

She is alone.

\----------

_“Grace, please, come home… Dad is about to lose the business, and is about to make a deal with Gold. If he finally does it… We will lose everything. I need you, we need you. Come back…”_

\----------

**_GRACE EVANS – MISSING_ **

_The Storybrooke Sheriff department has made an announcement to inform the people in town about the vanishing of Grace Evans. As one of the members of her family recalls, she left her home on 19 th March to move outside town for a period of time but as the police recalls, her car never crossed the town line. _

_If you have seen her, please contact the Storybrooke Sheriff department._

\----------

_“SHE IS GONE FOREVER, SHE’S NOT COMING BACK! DO YOU REALIZE IT, FATHER? CAN YOU SEE IT? SHE IS GONE!”_

_“FUCK, LACEY, SHUT UP! SHE WILL COME BACK, THEY WILL FIND HER! JUST BELIEVE, DAMMIT!”_

_“NO! GRACE IS GONE! THEY WILL NEVER FIND HER!”_

\----------

Lacey has been hiding in a cabin in the forest since she ran out from Gold’s house three days ago, almost four.

The night of the fight he hit her so hard she fell to the floor. He broke her lower lip. She was (and is) afraid of him, and she managed to dress as fast as she could and she ran away, barefoot, into Storybrooke’s streets. She can’t come to Ruby neither to her father, so she decided to find a safe place to hide from him, and from the world.

And she remembered the cabin.

And she hid.

She spends three days lurking in the darkness, wandering into the cabin, crying, and sleeping against a wall, wrapped in a blanket she has found in the bed of the wooden house.

She only wants to die there. She has pushed too hard, too far, and too fast. And that’s the price she has paid. She has been punished for trying to uncover the truth.

But as Gold has told her, some things should remain hidden.

She doesn’t have more tears neither strength to get up from the ground, and she is cold to the bone. Her shiners are deep, shining in purple, and there is dry blood in her lips. Her throat is dry as well. She can feel life escaping through her fingers.

She feels everything is fading.

She would gladly greet death with her arms wide open right now.

She smiles when her eyes start to shut; she thinks it’s the end.

She faints, and her head hits the floor.

No one hears the fall.

No one knows where she is.

No one cares about her.

\----------

_“Where is she? Has she told you anything?”_

_“No. She remains unconscious.”_

_“When she wakes up, make her speak again. We need to know everything.”_

_“She won’t resist too long.”_

_“I don’t care. She will end dead, whether we get what we want or not.”_

_“How do we hide the body?”_

_“I’ll think of something. Now go and make her talk, dammit! I don’t have all day!”_

\----------

Regina Mills is sitting in her living room, tasting a glass of her apple cider, with an evil big smile on her face, and thinking into the poor girl who is lying on that abandoned cabin, who might die in the next hours, but who also might be useful for future plans against the one and only. She made her wear such clothes, speak in that lazy and impolite way, drink so much; she is her creation.

She has been made for making suffer the most powerful man in town, but also the most powerful wizard in another land.

She has been made to destroy herself, that pretty little face of only 20 years old, to destroy all the good in the other side of the mirror in another land.

She has been made from revenge and desire to destroy.

And everything is going in the way that Regina was expecting.

She decides to indulge the girl; in the end, she needs to use her a bit more in her chess game.

She goes to her bedroom and takes carefully a wooden box from her desk, opening it slowly and revealing a magical heart.

She takes it and smirks before speaking to it.

“Graham, go to the cabin in the woods and take the girl who is inside to my house now. She is going to die.”

And in forty-five minutes, the Storybrooke sheriff calls the Mills’ residence front door, carrying in his arms the almost dead body of a young girl.

Her hair is quite messy, and her lips are purple. She is cold as ice, and there is blood in her lips and in her hands. Her trousers are broken and torn, and so is her t-shirt. She is still wrapped in the blanket she found in the cabin. She isn’t wearing anything else.

She looks fragile, innocent, naïve.

She looks like her Fairy Tale Land persona.

She looks like Belle when the curse was casted. Same empty blue eyes, same tired face and same messy hair.

For a moment, Regina swears she has seen Belle, and not Lacey.

Maybe it’s the apple cider, maybe it’s the curse.

Maybe she is too tired she can’t distinguish between _this reality_ and **_another reality._**

She shakes her head and orders Graham to take the girl to the hospital so she can have proper treatment for her wounds. She wants Lacey to trust her, and this is the best way to do it. Everybody in town will know that Regina and Graham helped a girl who has been beaten (lies will also help her).

She will act as a saviour, as a hero, despite she’s the villain, despite she only wants to use her for hurting another person.

“She’s still a valuable chess piece”, she mutters.


	8. Dark paradise

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We're in the final wave of the fic :) Two more chapters and this will finish, and with that, this series. Maybe there will be some deleted scenes (aka maybe more smut or fluff or drama) but with this fic this series ends. The continuation is a whole new series. 
> 
> I do hope you enjoy the chapter! :D

Lacey would prefer to be dead than lying in the hospital bed she’s now.

She would prefer to be alone; she doesn’t want any kind of visits. She only wants to remain in the dark, in peace, in silence.

Soon everybody comes to the hospital to see her, to see how is she, to try to guess what happened, and even to bring her fresh flowers and “get well” cards. Her father stays with her almost all day (despite the fact that she has told him to go away), and Ruby comes often (and Lacey greets her with angry eyes and remains silent during her friend’s stay). She “partially” likes their company, but they keep on acting like cowards; they are wearing masks to hide how they really feel about her. And that bothers her so much.

Lacey has been told that the sheriff, Graham Humbert, found her. He discovered a strange trace in the forest while he was doing his nocturne checking round, and he followed it. He thought it was coming from a wounded animal, but he only found a young girl in an abandoned cabin, looking at the abyss of death, and he carried her immediately to the Mayor’s house, and then to the hospital. She has been unconscious for two days, and her body is much more damaged than she thought. She can barely move, and she’s taking painkillers all day. Fortunately, there isn’t anything broken, but the run in the forest and the fights against herself and against the objects in the cabin made her left ankle and right wrist get twisted, and also very weak, and under her point of view, useless. She can do nothing right now.

She has been asked why she did it, why she ran away. And she remains silent. Everybody knows that she and Gold have some kind of relationship and a huge argument between them is the reason for her running away. But there is something more.

_Grace._

No one knows about that little secret of hers, only Gold and her father, and even Ruby, but no one else. She prefers to keep the secret and pretend that she had an argument with Gold and he hit her.

After all, being Gold’s whore is far better than anything else.

She is used to being called that, to hearing that every time she walks Storybrooke’s streets, and she is fine with it. She doesn’t care too much about what people say about her; they are only words. And she learnt to not give a single fuck about them.

The Mayor, Regina Mills, has come to the hospital a few times to see her. She seems to be concerned about Lacey’s health, and she has promised to her that she will do anything in her power to protect her. French is still surprised about such a proposal; Mayor Mills isn’t the kind of person who helps and offers shelter to people. But there is something in the attitude of Mills that makes Lacey trust her, and she takes the aid the mayor lends her.

Graham also comes to the hospital to see her. She knows him very well; he has caught her a few times trying to drive drunk and involved in public scandal. But he has always been good to her; her nights in the cells have always been nice, and he’s the only person she tolerates right now. He’s the only one who is really concerned about her and her situation, and he has offered Lacey help and shelter and anything she might need. She trusts him. She knows he’s a good man, always willing to help, and she takes what he has given her without doubting it.

Graham seems to be the only gentleman in town.

Three days after Graham’s last visit, she moves out of the hospital. No one comes to pick her up; her father is busy at work (and he still leaves her behind), and so is her best friend (to both things). She smiles vaguely; she knew they wouldn’t come to pick her up and they won’t keep on telling her what she should do. She’s a grown woman and she knows what to do.

Calling Mayor Mills seems quite desperate, but she realizes she doesn’t have many options left, so she dials Regina’s number in her mobile phone. When she’s about to press the green button to start the call, she realizes she has got another person that might be willing to help her: Graham.

Without any doubt, and trembling hands, she calls him.

“Sheriff Graham here, who’s calling?”

“It’s… Lacey.”

“Oh… Hello, Lacey!” His voice has something different, something that makes her feel better; it isn’t the kind of sensation that she feels when she talks to Gold. No, this warms her, makes her feel better. “How are you?”

“Fine, I suppose. I’m now at the entrance of the hospital and I was expecting my father or Ruby to pick me up but the-“

“Didn’t they come to pick you up?”

“No. I hoped they’d come but I’m here in the reception alone.”

“Wait. I will pick you up and I will leave you wherever you want.” She feels as if he has smiled on the other line. “Surely they have forgotten it.”

“But I don’t know where I can go. My father doesn’t want me in his house, and neither does Ruby. And don’t get me started on Gold…”

Silence takes control of the phone call and Lacey fears that he has ended the call. Maybe she seemed too desperate.

“Gr-graham… Are you still there?”

“You can stay with me until things change.” His voice has lowered and now it’s quite deep; he’s angry. Seeing Lacey in such a situation bothers him.

“Really?” she whimpers.

“For real. Now just wait for me. I will be there within 15 minutes.”

“Thank you.”

“No need to thank me, Lacey. I offered my help to you, and here I am. Don’t move from there, okay?”

And he ends the call, and Lacey waits patiently for him in the reception.

Graham is furious, very furious. He can’t stand what people are doing to Lacey; he can’t stand that neither her father nor her best friend want to see her. She hasn’t got any more friends in town, and the person she had a “relationship” with hit her, and it would be wrong to bring Lacey back to Gold’s house. She has to be safe; she has to have someone to trust, someone who wants her to be fine.

And that was him. He would protect her with everything.

If he had to put a bullet between the eyes of someone to keep her safe and sound, he would do it. In the end, he was the law in town, and no one disobeys the orders of the sheriff.

When he arrives, he parks his car in the entrance and searches for the girl in the reception, greeting her with a smile and a shy hug. Anger is still throbbing in his veins, but he manages to look calmed; if he is relaxed, he will create a good atmosphere for Lacey and she will be better.

“How are you?”

“I could be worse… But fine, anyway.” She looks at Graham with relief and tries to smile, but sadness is shining in her eyes. “Thanks again.”

“Don’t worry. I said I would take care of you and here I am.” He picks up her small bag and both walk calmly to the car. Lacey walks quite slowly; her twisted ankle is still giving her problems but somehow, being with the sheriff makes her feel better. She enters the police car carefully, and Graham closes the door. He opens his door and sits on the pilot seat. “Do you want to stop somewhere to pick up anything you need?”

“No. I’ve got clothes here and well… Everything I actually need.” She turns her head and looks through the window while the car starts moving and exits the main door of the hospital. “I don’t need anything else. I only need myself.”

“Does that mean that you can live without any other person around you?”

“Possibly… Yes.”

“I don’t think so.”

“Why?”

“Because everybody needs someone else by their side. It doesn’t matter if it’s a friend, a lover, a father, a mother… Everybody is bound to another person.” He stops at the first traffic light they encounter in their way, and he looks at her. “I am completely sure there is someone.”

“There… Well. No. There wasn’t anyone. I’ve always lived alone; I don’t need another person.”

“Then why did you decide to see Gold and…” He starts the car again and bites his lower lip before starting to talk again. “Work for him?”

“I haven’t worked for him.”

“I’ve got eyes, Lacey. I’m not a person you can fool easily.”

She remains silent for a little while, before she decides to speak. Graham must be one of the people in town who know about the real contract between her and Gold.

“What do you know?”

“Everything.”

“How much is everything?”

“John Greenfield.”

Lacey lowers her head and she nods shyly. She frowns and decides she’s not going to speak until they reach Graham’s house, but his voice interrupts her silence vows.

“I understand you, more than anyone in this world.” He stops, caressing her left leg. “I know why you did it, and I forgive you.”

And in another land, far from this, from which they have been ripped, he understands her too. He knows who she is, both in this reality and in another very different. And she, in that land, forgives him too despite the fact that none of them remember who they really are.

Lacey swallows hard and lets a tear roll over her cheek.

Graham ~~just~~ simply remains silent until he parks in front of his building. Both enter the main door silent, walking slowly; the sound of his shoes resounds in the hall, while Lacey’s steps are more silent. They go to the first floor, and there is a door to the right. The sheriff puts his key in the keyhole and turns it three times to the right.

The door opens, and Graham invites Lacey to come in.

The apartment isn’t quite big. It’s an average one; cosy, nice, and not so small, despite the fact that he lives alone. He puts her bag over the sofa, and shows her the house: a bathroom, one bedroom, a study and the typical American kitchen, connected with the living room. It’s a very sunny house, and it is decorated delicately. There are some pictures of wolves on the walls, and Graham’s room has a big painting of a majestic white wolf with blue eyes in the middle of a forest, over a rock.

Lacey is fascinated by how organized Graham is, and how he has made that apartment a great place to live. He made a home.

 “You will sleep in my bedroom.” The peace she’s feeling now is being interrupted by his voice.

“Oh, no, I will sleep on the sofa.”

“No.”  He refuses and takes her bag to his bedroom. “I can move the painting to the study or the living room if it bothers you.”

“It doesn’t bother me, but this is your house, and this is your bed and I…” She shakes her head. “You are the owner, and the owner always sleeps in his bed.”

“You’re still hurt, and although my sofa is a quite comfortable place to sleep, you’d better be in the bed.” He smiles as he sits in his bed, inviting Lacey to do the same. “Plus I have to wake up really early each day to go to work, so I prefer sleeping there and not waking you up than having you up at 6.30 am throwing cushions and your pillow at me.”

For the first time in days, even in weeks, Lacey doesn’t fake a smile, and she laughs. She openly laughs in front of him. And he follows her.

In the end, it seems that Graham knows her, and he can make her feel better.

“Do you want to take a shower or something?”

“Not now, but maybe later.”

“Then I leave you to organizing your things, and remember that you can stay here as long as you need it. There’s no problem, for real.”

She just nods and smiles and he leaves the room.

Lacey is overwhelmed about what Graham has just done, and she can’t be more thankful. After all, she considers him a friend. It’s true that they had their encounters (the law-breaker and the peacemaker) but he always has been a gentleman with her, and she doesn’t know how she’s going to pay him for what he’s doing.

Night comes, and Lacey feels tired, and awful, and she can’t sleep. She rolls in the bed, trying not to hurt her arm and ankle more. There is too much in her head, too many thoughts, regret, unsaid things, and of course, loneliness. She decides to see Graham, to be honest with him.

She opens the door of the bedroom and walks quietly to the living room, only wearing a long shirt of hers/his and a pair of old shorts. She approaches ~~to~~ him, and with a soft movement of her hand on his shoulder she wakes him up.

“Graham… Graham…”

“Hm… What happened, Lacey?”

“I… Can’t sleep.”

“Is something bothering you?” He rises from the sofa and sits on it, throwing the sheets to one side and showing his naked chest.

“Grace.”

“Sorry?”

“Do you remember what you told me about being alone and the bound with another person in the world?”

“Yes.”

“That was my bound. Grace Evans.”

“The missing girl since 1989.” Graham recalls. He remembers that case perfectly; they have been searching for her since the day she disappeared.

“That one. She and I had quite a special relationship.” Lacey starts to cry. “She is gone, she will never come back. I lost her; I lost the only person who kept me away from the life I’m having now!”

“Shh, baby.” He hugs her softly, pulling her closer and petting her hair.

“She was my everything and without her… I am lost.”

“You’re here and that’s what really matters.”

“She wanted me to graduate in college, to have a good life, to help my father… But from the day she left my house, everything turned to dust. She was like a cane for me, someone that I could rely on, someone I could tell even my darkest secrets.” She keeps on crying, each whimper louder, and Graham starts to be concerned about her. She has been through so much she can’t cope with the world anymore. “She… She was my guardian angel.”

He remains silent, holding her so close their bodies could merge into one. His eyes are closed, trying not to cry too, and he cradles her in his arms, as if she’s a baby, until her cries are only soft whimpers.

“Are you better now?”

“Yes.” She nods, and cleans the tears from her face, standing up and walking to the bedroom again. Before she opens the door, she speaks again. “Would you sleep with me tonight?”

He moves to the bedroom, and he takes her hand. Their bodies slip through the sheets and he holds her so close she falls asleep immediately.

And far from there, in the depths of their memories, a spark ignites, and Graham dreams of a girl, trapped and chained in a tower, suffering and crying, and even tortured with words.

A man, covered with a cape, enters her chamber, and he tells her he’s about to set her free, and he can smell the joy of her words. The man speaks about a father and a kingdom, and that those people are in danger. And of a wizard with a difficult name he can’t recall how to pronounce or even write. The girl speaks of that wizard, speaks of magic, speaks of a deal, and explains that she doesn’t know how to kill that magician. And he hears a knock, and a door opening, and the smell of magic in the ambient.

Two people are talking, a man and a woman. She seems to be from royalty, the owner of the castle, and she possesses magic, and he looks like a pirate, a one handed pirate. The woman holds a hook in her hand, and after a short talk, they abandon the cell.

He, Graham, is dressed like a soldier, in black, with a helmet that hides his factions and makes him identical to the man who is on the floor downstairs. He holds a key in his hands, and he uses it to open the cell, and he finds the girl lying in that “bed”, unconscious, and with her lower lip broken and bleeding. Her head is fine; apparently she doesn’t have any wounds, only the lip. He exits the cell and brings water and a cloth, and takes care of her.  This girl is quite similar to Lacey. She has the same hair, the same eyes, and the same body.

He remembers the girl; she had come here three days ago. And he remembers who the woman is; she’s the Evil Queen, and the girl lying in the cell, chained, is her prisoner.

She wakes up dizzy, confused and with tears in her eyes. He soothes her and offers the girl a glass of water, and she drinks it quite quickly. She answers with a smile. He hears footsteps coming to the cell, and he tells her that he has to leave her, but he will take care of her. And before he leaves and closes the door, he asks her what her name is.

“It’s Belle, and yours is…”

“Graham. My name is Graham.”

He closes the door and goes back to his position.

The queen appears, looks at him, and wraps them in a cloud of purple smoke.

Graham wakes up suddenly, sweating, and with a headache. He looks at the clock; it’s 3.25 am. He sighs and takes a deep breath before trying to sleep again. He checks how the girl lying by his side is now, and she seems to be fine. Lacey is sleeping peacefully, at last. He shakes his head shortly and sinks his head in her brown hair, and mutters something against her ear before falling asleep again, with his body pressed against hers.

She’s asleep, and she doesn’t hear it.

But somehow, in the morning, she will remember it.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the city, Gold is sitting on his couch, with a glass of Scottish whiskey in his right hand. He is still, looking nowhere, mind blank. He’s trying to assimilate what he did to Lacey that night, why he was so angry that he hit her in that way. He knows he’s a cruel and bad man, but he also knows he’s not _that_ cruel; he would never hit a woman. But that time, he did. Something related to that woman – Grace – is killing him. And that’s why he acted in such cruel way with Lacey.

He throws the glass against the wall, and armed with his cane, he starts to break everything he encounters on his way: glass, china, bottles, shelves…all except one thing.

He spots a small glass wardrobe, placed in a neat space. He throws his cane and gets closer to the wardrobe. He opens it and takes out the cup. It’s white, decorated in blue and golden. He can’t recall if he had more cups like this one, and he cuts himself with one of the edges of the cup.

**_It’s chipped._ **

“Damn”, he mutters while he licks the blood coming out of his finger.

Instead of throwing it to the ground to reunite with the other pieces of china, he looks suspiciously at it and places it again into the cupboard, cleaning the traces of blood he’s left on it.

He can’t remember anything related to that cup, and he doesn’t know why it stopped his wave of destruction.

**_It’s just a cup._ **

He runs his fingers through his hair and picks up his cane, walking slowly to his bedroom. Maybe tomorrow things would be different. Maybe tomorrow everything would have changed for good. Maybe tomorrow he would wake up and he would never have made that deal with Lacey.

Maybe tomorrow he would wake up from that dream that turned out to be a nightmare. And maybe tomorrow, somehow, Lacey would forget about Grace.


	9. A hard soul to save (End of all days)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We're getting to the very end of the fic! Thanks to Stephanie for finishing the corrections of the fic. I really hope you like this chapter as the other one.

_A maniac’s  L O V E S O N G,  
D E S T R U C T I O N  is his game._

                               **_30 Seconds to Mars, End of all days_**

A week has passed since Lacey went to Graham’s apartment, and she hasn’t moved from there since then. The sheriff has talked with Granny and Lacey’s father, and has explained to them the situation.

“Please understand Lacey’s situation right now.”

“What do we have to understand? She’s my daughter and she has to be with me!”

“Shh, Moe. Shut up and let the boy talk.” Granny pulled the man against the chair again.

“She is still in shock, she has gone through so much during the past weeks, and she needs to be away from the ambient she’s been living.”

“Are you questioning my parental decisions?”

“Not at all, Mr. French, but Lacey’s relationship with Gold has left her quite wounded. She needs to relax and be away from the normal life for some time.”

“That means then she won’t work, right?”

“Yes, widow Lucas.” Graham nods softly and takes a sip from his coffee. “Plus Dr. Whale said it would be better for her to remain in a neutral territory until she is better.”

“What is neutral territory?” Ruby popsher head up over the kitchen window and joins the conversation.

“Not Granny’s Bed and Breakfast, not your house, Ruby, and notyour house either, Mr. French. And of course, not Gold’s house.”

“Then where she will live?” Moe asks Graham suspiciously.

“She will stay with me, in my house.” He rises from the table. “I am a known figure for her, my relationships with thetown are mostly formal and my house is far from the territory that might trigger her. I think it’s the best choice.”

“Why doesn’t she remain in the hospital?”

“Dr. Whale thinks that she might get worse if she stays there.”

“What would be the other options?”

“Mayor’s house was the next one.” He lowers his voice. “Even though I think that Mayor Mills is quite a competent person and takes care of the people in town, she’s very busy and she can’t give Lacey all the attention she needs. And she has her child, Henry. That would be so much work for her.”

“I quite agree that Lacey stays with you.”

“Me too **,** ” Moe sighs.

“Yes, she will be fine with you.”

“Then everything’s decided. She will be better soon.” He walks to the door of the diner and opens it. “Thanks for your understanding.” He blinks an eye to Granny. “And also for the coffee!”

The sheriff leaves the building and walks towards his car, entering it and driving to his house. It’s a typical autumn evening in Maine: a thin rain falling over the ground, the smell of wet ground in the air. Everything is fresh and invites for a walk. He could hear the seagulls flying over the streets, and the crows singing their songs. The sun is starting to set in the horizon, and the town is covered in orange and purple, giving the clouds (which were threatening a storm) a different colour. They seemed less frightening.  He enjoys those little things that Storybrooke gives him, and he smiles thinking about how much he loves autumn. He also cares for the girl who is in his house, who seemed to be getting better.

He really hopes she will be fine soon; after all, she deserves it.

He parks in front of the building and enters with quick footsteps. He wants to throw the sheriff uniform away, have a shower and stay with Lacey until she falls asleep. But things are never as expected.

He opens the door of his house and he finds the girl in the kitchen, wearing a pair of loose-fitting trousers and an oversized t-shirt. She looks at him when he enters and she takes a sip of the glass she has in her right hand.

“How are you today?”

“Well… I’d say fine. I slept, watched some TV, ate something, and slept more. I just took a shower and now I just poured a glass of iced tea.”

“Do you like it?” He unconsciously starts to peel the clothes he’s wearing in the living room. “It isn’t a drink that suits you…”

“It isn’t my favourite but I enjoy it.” She walks towards the sofa and sits on it, placing the glass on the crystal table. “Graham… I wanted to ask you something.”

“What do you want to know?”

“Come and sit with me.”

He looks at her with suspicious eyes and sits by her side, keeping an eye on her. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing, it’s just that… Why did you forgive me?”

He doesn’t know how to answer.

“Forgive you forwhat?”

“Formy contract with Gold, for the beatings…for everything related with him.”

He closes his eyes and takes her hands, holding them strongly. “Do I need a reason to forgive you?”

“Graham, what I did is completely wrong! I hurt people. I lied tothe people near me to keep them apart from what I was doing! I was living a parallel life!” She is crying again. “How can you forgive a person who is darkness itself!?”

“Because I know you. You were broken. You were fucked up. You needed release, and you found it. You found something to hold onto for some time. You found something that made your weaknesses and fears go away. You did it because you needed to prove toyourself thatyou were able to cope with everything. You did it because you were thinking thatyou were saving yourself.” He can’t fight back the tears. “I know why you did it because I am like you.”

Lacey mutters, and watches the tears roll down his face. She has never seen a man cry; Graham is one of the strongest men she’s ever known, and he has just shown her his weakness. He has just peeled his layers and has shown her his naked core, how he really is.

“Why… Why do you say that?”

“Regina.”

“I don’t understand.”

“I’ve been sleeping with Regina for a long time. She granted me a good position and I’m always doing things for her. I have always felt empty, and sleeping with her is… My release. It’s the only way thatI can feel something. But I feel awful. I feel despicable, dirty, as if I am doing something wrong and I can’t do anything but keep on doing it because it’s addictive.”

“Graham, jus-“

“I know it’s wrong, it is very wrong, but there is some kind of attraction and I can’t do anything to hold it back. I always come to her when I need it.” He has stood up and he’s almost pulling his hair. There are still tears on his face, anger in his gestures, regret in his voice. “Regina is like a drug I can’t leave.”

Lacey remains silent and still onthe sofa, looking upat him. Words are throbbing in her throat, but she can’t speak. She is surprised athow he has opened to her. And she wants to hug him, wants to comfort him until he feels better. But there is tension, there is sadness in the ambient, and they don’t know how to react.

Graham tries to catch his breath to calm himself down, and he goes to the kitchen to pour a glass of cold water. Lacey follows his steps and makes him look her in the eye.

“I forgive you too.”

“Lacey, I am so sorry. You have enough with everything right now and I’m just adding more crap to everything. I should have kept that to myself.”

“No. I acted as your release, don’t you see? For once in your life, a different person acted as your release.” She can’t hold back her tears again, and she pulls him against her. “I am your release too.”

“I don’t want you as a simple release, I want something more.”

“Name it.”

“I want to keep you as a friend, as someone to rely on. I don’t want to use you each time I feel bad, I want to have you whenever I am okay or I am down.” He hugs her, and whispers in her ear. “I want you, simple as that.”

“How do you want me?”

“In a way in which none of us ends hurt or damaged.”

She answers him with a desperate kiss, still sobbing; she gives everything she has to him, and he accepts it, holding her so close they become one. But something between them is wrong, is **_wicked_** , and they already know this isn’t right. They separate their lips softly, wanting more, praying to tasteeach other even more deeply, but knowing that they don’t mean it, that they don’t really feel anything for each other.

Lacey goes to Graham’s room to sit and maybe sleep again. She wants to disappear. She has hurt the only person on earth who has really been worried about her and her state. She keeps on crying until she’s exhausted, and she falls asleep again.

Meanwhile, Graham goes to the bathroom. He has a steamy shower thatlasts for almost half an hour. He thinks about Lacey, about Regina, about where his life is going. He doesn’t know which direction he has taken, and he’s sure he will never know. He doesn’t want to hurt Lacey more than she is hurt already.

He doesn’t feel anything at all. He smiles, but he doesn’t feel it. He knows there is something wrong with himself.

He feels **_heartless_**.

He leavesthe bathroom and goes to his room; he has heard Lacey cry, and despite the fact thatshe might not want to see him, he goes to bed with her, to wrap her in his arms, to soothe her and to make her feel better.

To make himself feel again.


	10. Map of the problematique (A heavy heart to carry)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The final chapter of this fic. I can only thank Stephanie for being an incredible beta and also Sirio; I hope you really like the end.

_And is it **worth the wait** , all this **killing time**?_   
_Are you **strong enough to stand**?  **Protecting both your heart and mine**?_   
_Who is the **betrayer** , who is the **killer in the crowd**?_   
_The one who **creeps in corridors** and **doesn’t make a sound**._

_**Florence + The Machine, Heavy in your arms**_

Lacey wakes up wrapped in Graham’s arms, with her eyes numb and her body weakened. He is still asleep, and she hopes Graham can forgive her for what happened last night.

She feels a burden for him too, and she wants only to disappear, to move away from there, and just wait for the storm to calm down. She could move back with her father, have the life she had before all the mess she had made with Gold. She could ask for forgiveness, to forget all the crimes she had committed. She could apologize, redeem herself from all the evil she had done.

She could be the girl she used to be.

She moves from the bed and walks to the kitchen to pour herself a glass of cold water and make some coffee for her and Graham.

Theclock’s alarm rings. It’s 6.30 am, and it is October 5th, the first Thursday of October. And something unexpected makes Graham wake up urgently, throwing the sheets to the floor, and dressing so fast he is surprised he didn’t fall to the floor. Out of breath, he reaches the kitchen, and finds Lacey drinking a cup of coffee silently, sitting on the marble of the kitchen counter.

“I have a bad feeling about today.” He says, drinking his coffee quickly.

“Too much work or is something else bugging you?”

“I think something bad is going to happen today, and the soon **er** I get to the police station, the better. I can even prevent it.” He leaves the mug on the counter and picks his coat. “If you need something, come to the police station. I might need your help today.”

“Graham, wa-“

And the door closes with a slam. Lacey was about to apologize for her behaviour last night, but Graham seems to be more concerned about his feeling **s** than about what she wants to say to him.

The day has just started, and Lacey only wants to cover herself with the sheets and sleep through the day, but she also has a bad feeling.

And she decides to dress, tidy the house a bit and head to the police station.

Meanwhile, in the public school, in the class of Mary Margaret Blanchard, the young Henry Mills asks her about the date of that day, the 5th of October, while his classmates are **on** their break.

“What do you want to know about the date?”

“Any historical event, a war, a revolution… Something.” He smiles to his teacher. He’s hiding something from her, but Mary Margaret is puzzled by the child’s request, and she can’t read his face properly.

“Well… I will try to look for something in the library. Would you mind waiting here?”

“No, of course!”

When Mary turns her back from him and closes the door of the class, Henry runs to the computer. He needs to check an email, and the only place he can do it without his mother’s eyes on him is at school. He opens the browser and quickly writes on the keyboard the name of his email provider. A log in window appears and he goes tohis inbox.

The email he’s been waiting for is there.

He opens it impatiently and he reads it very quickly; the information he’s been looking for during the past year is right in front of his eyes.

After a long text, he finds what he needs.

**_Emma Swan._ **

**_112 Newbury Street, Boston, Massachusetts._ **

He smiles and writes everything down on a paper.

Today is his lucky day.

\-----

Lacey walks the streets of Storybrooke relatively quickly to the police station. Storybrooke is unusually active; people are walking fast, andmoving from one place to another as if they were in a hurry. There is even a bus on the street, waiting at the only bus stop in the whole town. The wind is especially strong, and a storm can be smelled in the air. Everything seems the same but at the same time, it feels completely different. Even the sun shines in a different way today.

The wind blows against the sealed windows of the library; strange sounds are coming from the building. The wind is making them. A piece of wood is ripped from the windows, and it ends up hittinga car, smashing the front window.

A few trees fall from the park, and the sea is restless.

Birds don’t stop chirping.

Strangeness can be felt in the air.

Lacey arrives at the police station and looks for Graham. It’s the first time in her whole life she’s visited because somebody needs her help.

“What happened?” She says heavily, as if she already knows the answer: a broken window, a car crash…

“Henry Mills has vanished.”

“What?” But this time, the answer surprises her and leaves her petrified. How cana boy of 10 years old have disappeared from a town like Storybrooke? “Does Mayor Mills know it already?”

“Of course she knows! She called me five minutes ago.” Graham pulls his hair back and takes a deep breath. “I knew this was going to happen. I knew it from the moment the alarm sounded today.”

“He can’t be that far! I mean, he’s a kid! He doesn’t have any money **or** credit cards or anything with him. He must be somewhere in town.”

“We’ve been looking everywhere, but he has just simply vanished.”

Graham picks up a flowerpot from his desk and smashes it into the floor. Lacey gets closer to him and takes his hand and makes him look at her. “We will find him, I’m sure. Let’s alert everybody in town. I’ll help you. If by tonight he hasn’t appeared, we will call Boston and the nearest towns to ask for help.”

He nods and goes for a broom to clean the mess he’s made in his office. Meanwhile, they remain silent, the quiet toodaunting to start a conversation. Graham takes the chance when he catches Lacey looking at the other sheriff jacket hanging from the wall.

“Do you want to become my deputy?”

“Sorry?”

“I’m asking you to become my assistant, helper… Those things a deputy does.”

“I don’t think I’msuitable for the job.” She shrugs and sits on the edge of the table. “You know, my past is… Kinda troubled.”

“Well, I think we can convince Regina that you’re pretty suitable for the job. You **’ve** got the brain and aptitude; we only need to train your skills a bit.” He smiles brightly.

“I’m… I’m not sure at all.” She lowers her head and crosses her arms. “Everybody in this town hates me, Graham. I’m just a pariah.”

“No you’re not. Lacey, look at me. Look me in the eye and repeat it.” He takes her by the arms and makes her look at him. “You are Lacey French, a girl with a troubled past and complicated life, but a human being. And you’re mistaken about people hating you. Not everybody in this town hates you.”

She bites her lips and looks away, trying to convince herself that Graham is right.

 “I can’t promise I’ll do it, but I promise to think about it.”

“I’m glad to hear that.” He hugs her and smiles shyly. “We should start asking people. The more we delay our search, the angrier Regina will be with me.”

She nods and both walk outside the police station to Storybrooke’s streets, in the search of the adopted son of the Mayor.

\-----

Regina opens the door of Gold’s shop with a slam and searches for him.

“Gold! GOLD! WHERE ARE YOU?”

“What do you want, miss Mayor?”

“Where is my son!?”

“Excuse me?”

“My son, the one you procured me, has disappeared. And I’m sure you have something to do with that

“I’m sorry that your son is missing, but I can assure you I have nothing with his vanishing. I have been all day in my shop, working. As usual.”

“I don’t believe you. Where have you hid him? WHERE!?” The Mayor smashes a glass vase against the crystal counter, breaking it.

“Miss Mayor, if you continue with this nonsense rampage in my shop, I’ll call the sheriff.”

“Then tell me where my son is.”

“I don’t know where he is.”

Regina sighs and leaves the shop very angry. Why would her kid leave her? What would have made him abandon his home? _Maybe because I told him he was adopted, and he decided to go and search **for** his mother_ , she thinks while she opens her car and enters it to drive to her house. Maybe a glass of her apple cider –or a bottle– will help her to see things moreclearly.

\------

Seatedon the only bus that does the route from Searsport*, the nearest town to Storybrooke, Henry smiles brightly, thinking about what he’s going to say when he meets his real mom. Weeks of research from websites had finally given him results.

His biological mother is currently living in Boston, 4 hours away from Storybrooke. There is still a long way to go, but he has with him something that will keep him entertained: a book of fairy tales.

But it isn’t the conventional story.

That book, the one he has in his tiny hands, says that the inhabitants of the Enchanted Forest, the place where all the fairy tale characters live, were put under a terrible curse. The Evil Queen, due toher desire forrevenge over Snow White, had cast the curse and transported everybody to the real world, making them forget who they were. They were given other personalities.

That real world is the world where Henry Mills lives.

The book says that the daughter of Snow White and prince Charming, a baby named Emma, was sent to that world before the curse was cast. On her 28th birthday, Emma would return to Storybrooke, and would cast away the curse. She was The Saviour.

And Henry knows that his biological mom is also the Emma the book talks about.

His other mother is The Saviour.

He looks through the window pane and closes his eyes. There is still a long way before they arrive to Boston.

\-----

Mr. Gold, after cleaning the mess Regina has made in his shop, decides to go to the police station to check how the search of the boy is going; he’s curious about it. He was the one who procured Regina her boy.

He enters the building, walking slowly until he reaches the sheriff’s office. He can’t hide the surprise on his face when he sees Lacey there, talking on the phone.

“You said you saw him at the bus stop? Yes, I understand. Okay, thank you very much.” She puts the phone down and stands up, turning on her toes and finding Gold’s face near her. “What… What are you doing here?”

“No, dearie… What are **_you_** doing here?”

“Helping Graham.” She crosses her arms and arches and eyebrow. “And you?”

“Checking how everything is going with the vanishing of the boy. “ He smirks and turns his head, and walks towards the bench of the entry. “And also to tell the sheriff to keep the Mayor tied up. She broke a few things in my shop.”

“Good to know. Regina must be very angry and worried.”

“She’s acting like a person who has lost the only thing they really love.” He sits, leaving his cane by his left side. “Quite complicated woman our Mayor, isn’t she?”

“Not as complicated as you.”

“Well, dearie, I’m more than complicated. I’m far morecomplex than what you could ever understand.”

“Don’t underestimate me, Gold.” She turns and shows her back to him. She isn’t going to let him win this time. “Why did you hit me?”

The question catches Gold by surprise. He doesn’t expect Lacey to ask about that in that precise moment, and he doesn’t know how to answer. He recalls he was angry about all the questions she had been asking about Grace, but he doesn’t have a solid reason for hitting her. It had been more a thing about being furious than about other matters. He is sorry, and he regrets it, but he isn’t brave enough to say it. He has always been a coward, and that isn’t going to change.

“I don’t know.”

“How can you not know that?”

“I was enraged about everything you were asking, about all those questions, about reliving the past.” He lowers his voice. “The reason why I can’t tell you anything about Grace is because there are lots of people implicated, not only myself.”

“Are you…are you **i** mplicated in her case?” Her voice breaks.

“Somehow, yes. I am partially responsible for some things.”

“Why do you tell this to me now?” She is almost crying, and she is still with her back facing him. “Why, Gold? Why didn’t you tell me this at the beginning?”

“Because it’s a very complicated matter, and I wanted you to trust me. I wanted you to work with me. If you were strong enough to do those jobs, you were strong enough for meto start telling you things about her.”

“So… You only wanted me for doing the dirty job and in return I could have some answers. I was only a chess piece for you, right? I was only a pawn in your game. During all this time I have been a part of your game of loyalty, right? Tell me, Gold, why did you use me?”

“I wasn’t using you. I was protecting you.”

“You’re lying.”

“Believe me, I’m not.” He rises and walks until he’s face to face with her. “The same people that wiped Grace away want to do the same with you. You have her spirit: bravery, intelligence, loyalty… And you were starting to ask too much.” He starts to walk away from her, and before leaving the place, turns his head. “If you think of this as a chess game, you’re the king, and I am the Queen. I am your protector, far from what you think. Remember this, Lacey. If the king dies, the game is over.”

“What do you mean by saying I’m the king?”

He doesn’t answer and exits the police station, leaving Lacey there, all alone, with poker face, and trying to understand what he just had said.

\-----

Graham wanders around town putting posters on the lights and walls, asking people if they have seen Henry. Lacey has joined him and tells him that a person called early and told her he had seen Henry in the bus stop. Both think that maybe he has run away from town, and they don’t know how to tell such news to the Mayor. Worry is all over their faces; why a child had run away from his home? Everybody in town knows how strict and severe she is, but they don’t think she could make suffer a kid; at least, not in public. Night is over town; wind is still wild, and the rain is pouring. Graham decides it is better togo to the Mayor’s house in case Henry returns, or even worse news arrive. He thinks that his company may cheer up Regina; in the end, they are something like lovers, but only when she wants it. He is tired of that situation, he knows it isn’t healthy, but he doesn’t have anything better.

The other option is Lacey –and he can’t use her for such purposes, he can’t use her in such away. If both wanted, they could have a good relationship: each one giving everything they have to each other, being in harmony, being good. Lacey has been too good to him, he can’t do that.

He sighs, and knocks onthe door of the Mayor’s house.

And, as all nights, he enters it, giving everything he has left to her.

Meanwhile, Lacey heads back to Graham’s apartment. She has already decided she’s going to move to a new flat, only for her. She has gone to the bank and she has enough money to rent a house in the centre, near Granny’s, and far from Gold and her father. She would be near from Ruby, but she has to move forward, and forget. And maybe, if she was strong enough, to forgive.

The apartment seems cold and empty without Graham. He certainly was the one who warmed it in each possible way and made her stay nice, welcoming and healing.

She sits on the sofa, and turns on the TV. Thursday night, same boring sitcoms, same boring news, same boring reality shows. She isn’t a TV girl, in fact, and she prefers the company of the ebony balls of pool or the metal tips of the darts, or even the leather spine of a good book. But she isn’t in the mood to goto The Rabbit Hole; she doesn’t want to face Gold (if he is there) or give explanations to Jean. When things have calmed down, she will tell him what happened, and maybe just ask him to forget everything. In the end, everything was a bad dream.

She decides to lie on the sofa until Graham returns home, if he returns; everything that happened that day puzzles her and is driving her mad. She stays there, with her back against the leather, for more than an hour with her eyes wide open, but lying there doesn’t help to whip away her worries, and she gets up and walks towards the window, looking through. It’s almost 2 am, and he hasn’t returned yet.

Her eyes are fixed on the street, and suddenly, a Volkswagen yellow bug appears.

She frowns and focuses on it, to see if it’s a product of her imagination or if it is real.

Strangers don’t come to Storybrooke.

She keeps on looking at the car until it disappears from her sight, and when it turns left to continue its way, she keeps on looking at the street, paralyzed. Who is driving that car? Who has come to that town?

She wakes from her astonishment and picks her phone to dial Graham’s number.

After three tones, he picks it up.

“Sheriff Graham here.”

“Graham, a car has just arrived to Storybrooke.”

“What?”

“Yes, a yellow bug. It was on Hammersmith Street and it turned left, to Mifflin Street.”“That’s where Regina lives.”

“Do you think it could be Henry?”

“It might be.” He sighs. “I’ll call you later, thanks for the notice.”

“You’re welcome.”

And he puts down the phone.

Lacey breathes in and out three times and she decides it’s better to go to bed. After all, tomorrow she will have to find her new apartment.

She heads to the bedroom, peels offher clothes and puts her t-shirt on, and she gets into the bed. When her head touches the pillow, she falls asleep.

The day has been long, and her body needs the rest.

\-----

“HENRY!”

Regina runs out of her house and hugs her son, her Henry, and looks to the woman who has brought his child back. Graham just stays in the doorway and waits, until Henry shouts something.

“SHE’S MY REAL MOM, YOU’RE NOT.” The boy runs into the house; Graham is worried by the reaction of the child and he tells both women he is going to check onhim. Regina nods and keeps on talking to the blonde.

He enters the house again, and goes upstairs, to Henry’s bedroom. He opens it and enters, and greets the kid, who lies on his right side, looking at the window.

“Hello, lad.”

“Hi.”

“Today was quite an adventure, right?”

“I suppose.”

“Henry… You can’t do this again. Your mother was very worried.” He sits on the bed.

“But I found my real mom.”

“The blonde out there?”

“Yes. Her name’s Emma.”

Graham keeps silent for a little while before speaking again. “Why did you go to find her?”

“Because I wanted to know who was my real mother, and there she is.”

“Why didn’t you ask your mother?”

“Because she told me that my real mom didn’t wanted to see me…” He shrugs and whimpers quietly.

“Maybe she had her reasons. Maybe she was too young or she couldn’t give you a good life.” He puts his hand over Henry’s shoulder. “But you can be sure she wants the best for you. Both of them.”

“Really?”

“For real. You should sleep, really. The day has been too long for you.”

“Thanks, Graham.”

“You’re welcome, lad. Anytime.”

He rises from the bed and walks towards the door, closing it softly and walking down the stairs. He finds that Regina and Emma are talking, and he decides it’s time to go home.

“He’s almost asleep, Regina. He’s quite an adventurous child, isn’t he?” He smiles to both women and opens the front door. “I don’tthink I cando anything else here. Goodnight.”

He closes it and walks towards his car.

Fortunately, Henry is safe and sound at home, after an intense day of search. He is tired, he can tell, and he has to make the round yet. It’s late, and almost everybody in town is asleep, so he decides to get back home, have a shower, eat something and sleep a bit if the night allows it.

But as soon as he parks in front of his house, he receives a call.

The yellow bug has crashed against the “Welcome to Storybrooke” signal. The driver is unconscious, with a little wound on her head, but nothing that she can’t recover from the jail.

Graham picks up his car again and drives to the city limits, followed by Zimmermann’s truck to pick up the car. He puts Emma in the co-pilot seat and drives to the police station. He carries her to the cell and puts her in the bed, trying not to hurt her. He has called Dr. Whale to check the hit, and his diagnosis is very positive: she will be fine in the morning.

Leroy sleeps and snores in the other cell, beside Emma’s. He hasn’t heard anything, but despite that, both men close the door softly and turn off the lights of the police station again. Graham feels bad for leaving Emma there, but the law was very strict about driving drunk, and he has to obey it.

It is almost 3 am when he leaves the hospital after driving Dr. Whale back. It was time to get home and sleep, or at least, to try it.

When he opens the door of his apartment, after driving home, Lacey wakes up from her light sleep and runs towards him, thirsty to know what happened in the end.

“Who was in that car?” She greets him.

“It was Henry.”

“Thank God.” She sighs and smiles; the kid was okay and the mess was over. “You’re so tired, Graham…”

“I know, Lacey… But I am very relieved.” He starts to peel his clothes right there, in the hall of his house. “The day has been too long and we were both worried. We need rest.”

“Definitely.” Lacey hasn’t been this content since the day Graham made her laugh. She cares about the children but she is even more content because he –her sheriff– is home again. The house is warm and full of life again.

She takes his hand and starts to walk towards the bedroom, with small steps. The soft touch of her skin against his warms him, and without thinking it, he pulls her closer and kisses her.

But this time is different.

This time he really means the kiss, and she really wants it. This time isn’t a mistake.

This time both want it, and both let it happen.

He takes her by the waist and pulls her even closer; the cloth from her t-shirt starts to bother him, and he rips it off her body, leaving her almost naked. The contrast of her silky skin against his makes her shiver.

Lacey opens the door of the bedroom and Graham makes her lie over the sheets of the bed. He throws away the rest of his clothes and lies over her, breathing her essence, tasting herlips again, touching each inch of her skin. Her moans are soft; her eyes are shut in pleasure, her body is alert and trembling for more.

There is no talk; the moans and the hard breathing are the only sounds that come from their mouths, and body language does the rest.

His mouth leaves hers, and kisses her jaw all over, going down to her neck and collarbone. She tastes even better than he could ever imagine –he has dreamed this a few times. Lacey is known for being pure passion, pure flame, and he’s tasting it all. His tongue moves smoothly around her breasts, and his teeth catch her nipples, biting them softy, as his hands cup her arse and move her hips towards him, pressing her more than soaked underwear against his throbbing cock.

Graham pulls away the knickers and pushestwo fingers inside her, moving them slowly first, and then harder. Lacey whimpers and her hands hold onto the sheets, almost screaming in pleasure. That is the first time in months that somebodyhas treated her this way while making love; delicate but deliciously pleasure aching, softly but hard and strong at the same time. That is making love, not having a quick fuck over a pool table, or against a wall, or even over a desk.

“Graham… Just…”

“Shh, my dear…”

“Do it, Graham. Do it already. I need **_you_**.”

And with no hesitation, Graham enters her with a harsh thrust. Instead of start moving, he remains quiet and looks at her, looks at her front covered with little pearls of sweat, her hair loosened and spread over the bed, her bright blue eyes shut, her lower lip trapped under her teeth. He likes seeing her in this way, so opened to him, so vulnerable but at the same time so strong. This is the Lacey only a few people know.

She takes the initiative and makes him sit on the bed, so she can sit over him. Graham obeys and she starts to move. Pleasure takes control of each nerve, each muscle; her skin is so sensible to any touch she just cries out when Graham’s fingertips caress her back and neck.

She clenches into his shoulders when an orgasm strikes her; she screams out loud, her body making erratic movements and trembling from head to toe. Graham follows her, hiding his head into her curly hair and groaning her name in her ear.

Lacey throws herself in the sheets again and falls asleep almost instantly, with a bright smile. He follows her, hugging her and pressing her back against his chest, and putting a hand over her heart.

The busiest of the days have gone to sleep, but the most complicated of the waking ups is about to start.

\----

Morning comes and Graham wakes up relaxed. He picks up his clothes and dresses fast, trying not to wake up Lacey. He doesn’t even bother making coffee and hurries to the police station, but Lacey calls him from the bedroom door. She’s gloriously naked, her hair completely messy, and her voice sounds a little broken.

“Weren’t you going to say goodbye?”

“I didn’t want you to wake you up.” He smirks.

“Come here, my sheriff, and let me wave you a nice goodbye.” She licks her lips and puts a hand on her waist.

He comes to her walking fast, and she kisses him deeply, longing, wanting. He wants everything again, but he has to go to his job. He leaves her lips slowly.

“I’ll be back later. Don’t worry.”

She smiles and lets him go.

Lacey goes back to bed; she can reward herself with a good sleep, the first in weeks.

When Graham arrives to the police station, he finds that both Leroy and Emma have woken up. He opens **the** cell and lets him go.

“Remember, don’t get into much trouble and smile.”

“Don’t worry, sheriff.” He fakes a smile and went out of the place.

“Hey... What am I doing here?”

“Well, you were drunk and you crashed against the welcome sign of the town.”

“Oh, really?” She touches her head in pain and shrugs. “Is my car alright?”

“More or less. It’s now at Zimmermann’s garage; he’s repairing it.” He laughed. “I’m sorry abouthaving you here but… You know, Regina’s apple cider is a bit strong.”

“Excuse me, sheriff. What is **_she_** doing here?” Regina welcomes both with an angry gesture.

“She was driving drunk.” He answers briefly.

“Well, in that case, she might even be responsible for Henry’s vanishing. Mary Margaret has informed me that he has escaped again from school during the break.”

“I have been here all night, I don’t have anything to do with that!” Emma replies, moving to the bars.

“Regina, don’t worry, we will find him. He’s in town, I can tell you.”

“Maybe I can help you.”

“How do you know about Henry?”

“We can just check his things in his bedroom and maybe we can find clues about where he is.”

“I’d prefer more traditional methods but I think she can help us.” Graham opens the cell and Emma goes out.

“Where shall we start?”

“His computer. Then we will ask Mary Margaret. As his teacher, she should know some places he could have gone.”

The group exits the police station. The Mayor’s house comes first, and Emma finds information about how the boy found her, and the evidence leads to the teacher.

“Do you have any credit card of yours missing, Miss Blanchard?” Emma asks her. Graham is by her side, arms crossed and Regina waits impatiently. Tension can be cut with a knife.

“I don’t know…” She opens her purse and finds out that one of them is missing. “Oh… This kid…”

“You should start to take care of your things, Miss Blanchard.” Regina takes her purse and throws a pile of books to the floor, and she leaves the class. Graham helps to put the books back on the table and so does Emma.

“I have to check onthe Mayor. She’s quite unpredictable in these situations…”

“Go. Don’t worry, I will find the kid. In the end, he’s my son too.”

“Emma. Miss Blanchard.” He blinks an eye towards the teacher and the blonde, and leaves.

It takes some time to pull down the Mayor, and Regina finally breathes when Emma comes with Henry. When Graham is assured that the child is safe and sound and home again, he leaves, driving to the police station. Lacey is waiting for him with an answer to his proposal: she’ll become a deputy.

Meanwhile, Gold wakes up heavily on his sofa. Remnants of whiskey are there, and some of his clothes are spilled over the room. He has a quick shower, trying to recall what happened last night and to wipe away the smell of alcohol and the last ofhis restless sleep from his face. He recalls it is Friday, and that means it’s the day of collecting the loans of some of his deals. Suddenly, his mood changes and he smiles.

His first stop is Granny’s Bed and Breakfast, partially owned by Widow Lucas and her niece, Ruby. It’s possibly one of the less prosperous businesses in town, but it’s the only hotel that Storybrooke has.

He parks his Cadillac in front of the door, and he sees there are people inside, somebody he doesn’t know.

Strangers never come to Storybrooke.

He opens the door softly.

“Miss Lucas…”

“Oh, yes, Mr. Gold. Here you are.” The old woman giveshim a handful of bills. He takes it and puts it inside of his jacket. There is a blonde woman between he and Widow Lucas; she’s a stranger, definitely, and it seems she’s going to stay in town.

“Please, what’s your name?” The old woman asks.

“Emma. Emma Swan.”

Suddenly, a wave of warmth takes control of Gold’s body.

Memories from another land –another time, another place- flood him. He holds onto his cane harder.

He knows who he really is. He knows who the blonde really is.

He is the Rumpelstiltskin, the Dark One. She is Emma, the Saviour.

His insides are breaking, but he can’t fall here. Not in front of those people. He is the Dark One, he has to keep on showing respect, showing who is really holding the power, as Gold did.

He decides the best option is leaving the place.

But before exiting the building, he needs to reassure he’s right.

“Emma.” He smirks. “What a lovely name.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It has been a long ride since the first chapter of this was posted, and also the idea! This was plotted and writter before Lacey aired, and I knew some kind of AU it should have been written, and that's how Demolition Lovers started. Thanks for the kudos, the hits, the notes, the messages, the comments, everything related to this; it has been wonderful writing this and seeing that you actually enjoyed it. I think I can't thank you properly how grateful I am for this, for the great response this had. 
> 
> Thanks for staying with Lacey and Gold and the rest of the Storybrooke until the very end. Thank you.


End file.
